New 9-km corridor of Chennai Metro to open for commuters next month

The 9-km stretch of Chennai Metro, connecting Washermanpet to Wimco Nagar, is likely to be opened for commercial operations next month.

The testing of signalling systems was completed on January 18 and 19. Chennai Metro officials had been involved in conducting the trial run and testing over the last couple of months. They had sent the test report to the German company, which had developed the signalling software and after due certification process, the new line will open for passengers.

The Commissioner of Railway Safety (CMRS) is likely to inspect the line on January 31, February 2 and February 3. A team from CMRS landed in Chennai on Monday.

Ten rakes, manufactured at Sri City, are to be used for operations on this stretch. The line is part of CMRL’s Phase I (Blue Line) Extension Project, the cost of which is estimated at Rs 3,770 crore.

In December, last year, CMRL officials had termed the trial run of the Diesel Locomotive vehicle successful. A total of 9.051km were covered during the trial run, on both upline and down line.

The Metro line from Washermanpet to Wimco Nagar is an extension of the phase-1 corridor, connecting Washermanpet to the airport, via Annasalai, with nine stations in total – Washermanpet, Sir Thegaraya College, Korukupet, Tondiarpet, Toll Gate, Thangal, Gowri Ashram, Thiruvottiyur and Wimco Nagar.