First line in Chennai Metro to be operational by February, 2015

The second stretch of railway line is expected to commence operations by end of 2015

The first stretch of Chennai metro rail covering a distance of 11km is expected to commence operations by February, 2015, after a delay of one year.

The metro rail’s second stretch, a major share of which is designed to be underground, is expected to start operations by 2015-end.

“The first line in the project, a stretch from Koyambedu to Alandur covering over 11 km, has almost been completed. It is expected to commence operations by the end of January or in February next year,” said R Ramanathan, director of projects, Chennai Metro Rail Limited.

Union Minister for Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu earlier said the Chennai metro rail would be launched in March, 2015.

The second section, between Koyambedu and Egmore, would see completion of tunneling by June, 2015, after which, the trial runs are expected to begin. The section is expected to be ready to commence operations by the end of 2015, he said.

Of the five packages assigned to various consortiums for executing the total project to build 45 km, the fifth package handled by Transtonnelstroy-Afcons joint venture was completed with a breakthrough of the second tunnel connecting Shenoy Nagar to Tirumangalam, which comes as part of the second corridor from Chennai Central to Saint Thomas Mount connecting Kilpauk-Thirumangalam- Koyambedu and SIDCO.

The tunnel boring machine, last week, had grinded the last wall in the stretch. The stretch had comparatively less hazards and could make 16-18 meters of tunnel a day, said company officials engaged in the project.

It has completed a stretch of 3.5 km between Shenoy Nagar and Tirumangalam, of which 2.4 kilometer is tunnel-based. The tunnel and stations are situated almost 16-18 metres underground. It has various back up facilities, including walk-throughs between the two tunnels for commuters to access trains from both directions.

The platforms would be separated from the tracks with a skinwall, which has doors where the train doors will align once the train is stopped in the station.

The tunnel lines would not require rigorous trial runs since the first line between Koyambedu-Alandur is being tested for almost an year and the trial in the underground line would be to check whether it is in tune with the system ,said Ramanathan.

Officials also said that in order to commence operations in the first line, the CMRL officials had approached the state government seeking an appropriate date in February to fix the launch function.

The 45-km Chennai metro rail project will cost an initially estimated Rs 14,000 crore.