Draft MoU for Metro Rail’s MRTS takeover to be sent to Railway Board for approval

After several months, Southern Railway has finally sent the draft Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the takeover of the Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) by Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) to the Tamil Nadu government. In March, Southern Railway is expected to send the draft MoU to the Railway Board.

If the board clears the MoU within the next few months, the signing of the MoU between the Tamil Nadu government and Southern Railway can take place in June, setting in motion the actual takeover process. The idea to integrate the CMRL with MRTS emerged as early as 2010 and has been marred by delays, much to the disappointment of commuters. The Railway Board’s in-principle approval for this takeover came in July last year, but the MoU is yet to be signed.

Some new complexities have also come up. “Southern Railway has introduced some new clauses in the draft MoU which, in our view, are negative. Such clauses are very restrictive in nature for the project. Now, we have to yet again hold discussions and within a week or a fortnight, we will resend the MoU document to Southern Railway, and then we hope that, by March, they will forward it to the Railway Board for the final approval,” a source in the State government said.

Pushing signing of the MoU till June will further delay the revamp of MRTS stations, a critical work that commuters have been demanding for years now. Initially, the CMRL intended to float bids to upgrade the stations before the MoU process but the plan has changed now. A detailed project report will first be done and the tenders for the revamp too will be issued only after the signing of the MoU.

“It is important that Southern Railway improves the maintenance of the stations at least from now till the takeover process is completed. This is because after the MoU is signed, there is a transition period of two years during which Southern Railway will continue to maintain the stations. While CMRL’s upgradation may start, Southern Railway will predominantly control the station maintenance and facilities such as elevators and escalators need to be in working condition for commuters,” he added. Nearly ₹4,000 crore will be required to upgrade the Chennai Beach-Velachery MRTS stretch and talks are under way to finalise the funding.