In January, final inspection of last leg of phase-1 Chennai metro to be donewords
Posted on: 05/Jan/2019 10:25:20 AM
Travelling from Washermenpet to airport in less than 50 minutes of time would soon become a reality. The news is the commissioner of metro rail safety or CMRS would inspect the last leg of 45 km phase-1 between Washermenpet and AGDMS on 10th and 11th of January 2019. He would give approval for opening the line. So in less than 3 weeks of time the commuters could travel from Washermenpet in north Chennai to the airport in less than 50 minutes and this would be amazing.
On Friday, 4th January 2019, a trial was conducted by the CMRL or Chennai Metro Rail Limited officials with an inspection carriage across the ballast less tracks. Before the line starts functioning, CMRS inspection would be the last round of inspections.
An official expressed his thoughts about the opening of the line and said the documents have been submitted to CMRS regarding the line. He was full of hope that the line would be opened before the end of the month of January. It must not be forgotten that in the past CMRS inspections were carried out and other lines were opened in the phase-1 within 10 days of this inspection. The important information gathered was the line from Washermenpet to AGDMS covers 9.6 km and is linked by as many as 8 underground stations that included lower deck of Central Metro, underground transit hub at a depth of 28m. It must be taken into account that the stretch also has got 4 stations between government estate and AG-DMS. This is a portion of Ana Salai where the work was stopped for more than a year as the contractor from Russia abandoned work due to financial issues. In the early December, CMRL grabbed many eyeballs when it started trial runs with metro trains along the stretch. At that time the workers were giving final touches to the stations is known.
Travelling from Central to airport now takes 1 hour as the metro train takes a long route via Poonamallee High Road, Shenoy Nagar, Anna Nagar and 100 ft road and then reaches GST road at Alandur. Safety of passengers is very important and it is clear that CMRS and his team members would inspect all the facilities needed for the passenger safety like cross passage in tunnels, fire safety, ventilation and air conditioning systems etc. In addition to these they would also be inspecting passenger amenities like ticket vending machines, customer care, entry/ exit points, elevators and escalators etc.
