Chennai, Aug 19:
The Ministry of Railways has approved the MoU between Southern Railway and the Tamil Nadu government for handing over the assets, operation and maintenance of the Chennai Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) suburban services to the State government.
The agreement has been signed by Southern Railway, the Tamil Nadu government and Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL). A separate MoU will subsequently be signed between the Tamil Nadu government and CMRL for handing over the MRTS to CMRL, with the Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA) coordinating the transition.
The MRTS network, comprising 20 stations between Chennai Beach and St Thomas Mount, will be integrated with the city’s wider public transport system to enable better connectivity and seamless multimodal travel.
Under the proposed arrangement, the handover is expected to be completed within 90 days of execution of the MoU. Southern Railway will continue operating and maintaining the services during a 24-month transition period.