Railway Board approves signalling system for Poonamallee-Porur Metro Rail stretch

The Railway Board has finally issued the in-principle approval to Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) for the signalling system to operate the Poonamallee-Porur stretch of the Phase II project.

According to CMRL officials, they expect a speed certificate to be issued by the Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO) and the Railway Board, Ministry of Railways, in a few days. An extensive inspection was carried out by the RDSO in August, and CMRL has been waiting for some of the crucial approvals, including for the signalling system and speed certificate.

Since it was taking time, CMRL had escalated the issue with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and the Project Monitoring Group of the Union government in November.

In the first week of December, the Tamil Nadu government wrote to the Centre seeking its intervention in this regard to expedite the approval.

In a related development, CMRL is likely to provide connectivity from Poonamallee to Vadapalani on the Phase II network by the end of February.

After starting train operations on the stretch between Poonamallee and Porur (a part of corridor 4 in the 118.9-km Phase II network) in January, establishing connectivity till Vadapalani at the earliest is crucial as this is one of the locations where the Phase I and Phase II network meet, the officials said.

As all the stations between Porur and Vadapalani may not be ready by February, the plan is to expedite the work first at the Phase II Vadapalani station and operate trains till this location, skipping those being built in between.

“From Poonamallee to Porur, the trains will halt at all the stations. By February-end, we want to give commuters some form of connectivity till Vadapalani, so that they can switch between the Phase I and Phase II networks. Hence, trains will travel past Porur all the way to Vadapalani, but they won’t make stops at the stations between Porur and Vadapalani,” an official said. CMRL has been planning to commence train services on the stretch (on the corridor 4 of the phase II network) from Porur to Power House in Kodambakkam by June. “The stations between Porur to Kodambakkam are likely to be ready by June, and we will be ready to begin operations on this stretch then,” the official added.

Skywalk being built

CMRL has begun building a 130-metre skywalk to link the upcoming Phase II Vadapalani Metro Station with the Phase I station.

“We plan to complete this bridge by the end of January. So, when the second stretch is opened, commuters can quickly walk from the ticketing level of one station to the other,” another official said.