CHENNAI: The Southern Railway has given in-principle approval to a revised platform configuration at Chennai Beach station, advancing efforts to transfer MRTS assets, operations and maintenance to the state government and Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL).
The proposal envisages re-configuring platforms 9 and 10 into a dual-island arrangement: a 15-coach island platform for suburban services and a 9-coach island platform for MRTS trains, with a dedicated passenger transition zone between them. Officials said the design seeks to streamline passenger flow while ensuring operational separation between the two systems.
The move follows concerns flagged by the state over the handling of MRTS services at Chennai Beach.
Tamil Nadu had proposed extending platforms 9 and 10 towards the Chennai Fort end to support additional nine-coach capacity for MRTS operations without disrupting suburban traffic. This proposal has now received in-principle acceptance from the Southern Railway.
The railway has been tasked with preparing an engineering-scale plan in line with the revised configuration. The conceptual layout, along with a broader station integration proposal, will be shared with the state once finalised.
However, a detailed integration blueprint will be drawn up only after the memorandum of understanding governing the MRTS transfer is signed, sources said.
The development marks incremental progress in the long-pending plan to integrate MRTS with Chennai’s metro network, even as key operational issues remain under discussion between the Union government and the state.
