Metro rail likely to start functioning by Oct/Nov on elevated stretch as pending work commences

C Shivakumar

Chennai:

The elevated stretch of Chennai Metro Rail between Koyambedu to St Thomas Mount is likely to be ready by October and November once the passenger facilities are in place in the station, a senior metro rail official said.

Interestingly, this comes in the wake of work being started again in the 10 elevated stations after Chennai Metro rail awarded Rs 385 crore contract to four construction companies.

The work came to a standstill after the termination of contract to Consolidated Construction Consortium Limited for the delay in construction of railway stations on the elevated stretch.

The official said that work like landscaping and other minor works will be carried out simultaneously once the elevated stretch is opened.

He said that in the next five to six months most important works would be completed and the elevated stretch will come up for inspection by the commissioner of metro rail safety to get the clearance for operating the rail services on the elevated stretch.

“Only after the clearance, the elevated stretch would be opened to public,” he said.

The contract of pending works in Koyambedu, CMBT, Arumbakkam were awarded to Tiruchitambalam Projects Limited(TPL) while works on other stations were awarded to Saraswati Construction company, Nagarjuna Construction company and URC Constructions. “We have given them 10 months time to finish the work,” the senior official said.

Meanwhile, commuters on the busy stretch between Saidapet to Kathipara could heave a sigh of relief as the laying of viaduct or the concrete on the elevated stretch would be completed by July-August. After this the stations as well as tracks would be readied. “Once the laying of concrete structure in the elevated stretch is completed, the barricades are likely to be removed easing the flow of traffic,” the official said.

Interestingly, the elevated stretch linking airport to Alandur would take a year more to complete. Meanwhile, after the trial run between Koyambedu to Ashok Nagar, Chennai Metro Rail will be extending it to Alandur by the end of this month, a metro rail spokesman said.

However, he refused to give any timeframe in this regard. Meanwhile, a third metro train of four coaches arrived at the Koyambedu depot. With this Chennai Metro Rail till now has 10 trains. Three of them are indigenously produced while seven others are manufactured in Brazil.