Roof over Metro's Alandur-Airport Stretch to Help Pilots Land Safely

CHENNAI:  Chennaites travelling on the six-km stretch of the Chennai Metro, from Alandur to Chennai Airport, will not have the pleasure of viewing aircraft landing and taking off from Chennai Airport. Their view will be obstructed by iron bars and the entire Metro stretch from Alandur to the Airport will have a roof - painted in bright red and white so as to not pose a distraction to aircraft pilots while landing their planes. 

A Chennai Metro Rail official said, “The Airport Authority of India wanted us to cover the whole stretch because it would cause distractions to pilots due to reflections off shiny surfaces and the regular movement of metro trains along the stretch.”

Even the 500 metre stretch, from the Officers Training Academy to Meenambakkam, is underground as aircraft swoop down quite low above this stretch to land on the Chennai Airport’s runway.

It is, however, to be noted that the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation does not cover the metro rail stretch near the Delhi Airport with a roof or fence the track with iron railings. Sources said that there was a similar request by the Airport Authority of India to Delhi Metro but they had not heeded the request as changes could not be made after the track became operational.

Chennai Metro and other new metros, however, now have time to look into these suggestions and incorporate the changes before commercial operations begin, said a Metro rail official.

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com