Chennai Metro Rail misses deadline yet again, 6 stations on Arcot Road to open in March 2027

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Chennai Metro Rail will seek an extension of the ‘provisional authorisation’ granted to the Porur-Vadapalani stretch from the CRS owing to the delay. | Photo Credit: S.R. RAGHUNATHAN

Nearly ten months past the deadline, Chennai Metro Rail has failed to complete the construction of six stations in the Poonamallee-Vadapalani stretch of the Phase II network, which is likely to be completed only by March 2027.

The delay has resulted in thousands of commuters in areas such as Alapakkam, Virugambakkam, Valasaravakkam, and Saligramam not being able to access stations closer to their residence despite having metro train services on Arcot Road.

Owing to this delay, Chennai Metro Rail will also seek an extension of the ‘provisional authorisation’ granted to the Porur-Vadapalani stretch from the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS), sources said.

After conducting multiple inspections, the CRS had granted approval for the Poonamallee-Porur stretch with no speed restrictions. But on the Porur-Vadapalani stretch, the authority had issued ‘provisional authorisation’ with trains operated in the manual mode and the speed not exceeding 40 kmph, sources said.

The CRS, in a letter issued in May, said: “After completion of all the pending works, CMRL shall approach this office for regular authorisation as this provisional authorisation is only up to October 31, 2026.” Since the construction of six stations in the Porur-Vadapalani stretch — Alapakkam, Karambakkam, Valasaravakkam, Alwarthirunagar, Saligramam Warehouse, and Saligramam — is delayed, Chennai Metro Rail is working to request an extension of this authorisation till March next year, sources said.

According to officials of Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL), they were faced with severe labour shortage owing to elections from March till June this year. “But after that, the worker strength has substantially increased and the work has been under way in full swing. We also had to work under a lot of challenging conditions. It was very tough to construct the platform and concourse between Alapakkam and Alwarthirunagar, since it is a double decker corridor (both corridor 4 and corridor 5 of the phase II network run parallelly one over the other),” an official said.

“Now, nearly 95 per cent of the work on building the platforms of these stations is over. We are expediting the work to finish the concourse and the entry/exit structures of these stations,” the official added.

While the construction will be over in January next year, the CMRL will need another two months to complete signalling work, another official said.

“But from our estimate, it is going to be pretty difficult to complete the signalling work even by March 2027. The opening of these six stations is likely to get delayed even further,” a source said.

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