CHENNAI: The nine-kilometre metro rail stretch under the second phase from Poonamallee to Porur, with 10 stations, will be inaugurated by December this year, Chief Minister MK Stalin said on Thursday. The stretch is part of 26.1km corridor-4 from Lighthouse to Poonamallee bypass.
The chief minister, who inspected the work of the tunnel boring machine emerging near the Adyar Junction Metro Station, covering a total distance of 1.218 km on Thursday, posted in ‘X’ platform that he has instructed Chennai Metro officials to complete the remaining works within a stipulated time.
The stretch between Greenways road Metro Station and Adyar Metro Station on the Kellys-Taramani corridor includes a challenging section of the route that goes under the Adyar river for 300 metres, which is a rocky terrain.
The tunnels being built at a depth of 15 metres to 22 metres under the Adyar river are crucial as this will connect north-eastern suburbs and core city areas with IT corridor on Old Mahabalipuram Road, linking Perambur, Chetpet, Nungambakkam, Thousand Lights, Royapettah, Mandaveli and Madhavaram with the IT corridor.
The first of the twin tunnel from Greenways station to Adyar junction, covering 1,228 metres, was completed after a gruelling 178 days. The work on the stretch commenced in February 2023. “When these works are fully completed, Chennai will set new benchmark in urban public transport connectivity in India!,” Stalin said.
Urging the Union government to approve the metro rail projects for Coimbatore and Madurai, Stalin said, “After the delays of the previous regime, we continued the second phase of the works, primarily with the funds of the state government. Recently, with the participation of the Union government, which accepted our request and approved it, we are implementing it even faster.”
A Chennai Metro Rail official told TNIE that after the launch of Poonamallee to Porur stretch, the next stretch to be opened will be the 8-km one from Porur to Kodambakkam Power House. This is likely to be opened by June 2026.
The official said the work on the entire second phase was scheduled to be completed by December 2027. However, it was delayed by a year due to the late awarding of six tenders for the underground stretch, particularly the one from Nathamuni to Kolathur. The work is set to begin this month. The stretch comes under the 47 km Corridor 5, which starts from Madhavaram to Sholinganallur. The elevated stretch of entire second phase will be completed by December 2027.