Chennai: The final inspection of Chennai Metro Rail Ltd’s (CMRL’s) 10-km stretch between AG-DMS and Washermanpet stations under phase one project will take place 19 and 20 January.
Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety (CMRS) will inspect the final stretch. This inspection is mandatory and only after the final clearance and a certificate, operations can begin on this stretch. The documents were submitted by the CMRL officials a few weeks ago which are now being scrutinised.
CMRS will also inspect various facilities at all the eight stations on this stretch, including AG-DMS, Thousand Lights, LIC, Government Estate, Chennai Central, High Court, Mannadi and Washermenpet to check if they are safe for passengers to use. This apart, they will inspect the tracks and other systems in the tunnel. If CMRS gives the green signal, the line will be inaugurated and opened for public in a week.
The inauguration of this stretch will denote the completion of the Rs 14,600 crore phase one project covering a total of 45 km.
It is to be noted that the first trial run on this soon-to-be-inspected stretch was done using a conventional diesel locomotive 24 August last year. A team of CMRL officials travelled on the locomotive that ran on the ballastless tracks across the eight stations.
On 6 December last year Minister for Industries, Steel Control and Special Initiatives, MC Sampath and Chennai Metro Rail Managing Director, Pankaj Kumar Bansal, undertook the final inspection of the line.
The phase one construction started in June 2009 and the first Metro Rail service in Chennai became operational in 2015. At present, there are two lines operating in phase one: Airport – Central via Koyambedu and Airport to Teynampet DMS. Plans to connect these two lines are finally coming to an end with the completion of track work from DMS to Washermenpet via Chennai Central.
| Reason for delay |
| The last leg of phase one should have been completed long ago. But work on the stretch which covers part of the Anna Salai line was stalled for more than a year after a Russian contractor abandoned the project citing financial crisis. It was alleged that a wrong soil analysis was the reason behind the contractor leaving the site. While boring tunnels, the contractor ran into hard rocky soil, which was allegedly not mentioned in the soil test report. |