Railways awaits CRS’ nod for services on MRTS extension

The Southern Railway, having successfully completed the extension project of the Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) from Velachery to St. Thomas Mount, awaits the trial run to be conducted by the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS), Southern circle, to launch services for the public.

The Southern Railway had initially planned to get the safety certificate before the Pongal festival for launching the services. However, senior railway officials said the project is unlikely to be inaugurated by January. A senior official of Southern Railway said the 4.5-km MRTS extension project from Velachery to St. Thomas Mount railway station, executed at a cost of ₹734 crore has been completed.

Since the completion of the project last month, several trial runs using diesel engine-powered freight trains have been done successfully. The application for the safety certificate of the MRTS extension project, which would have two stations, Puzhuthivakkam and Adambakkam, have been submitted.

Once the date for the trial run is given by the CRS, the MRTS services would be inaugurated, he added.

Frequency decreased

The Southern Railway had operated train services from Beach to Velachery at a gap of 15 minutes at least during peak hours. When the services were resumed after 14 months, after the completion of the fourth line project from Egmore to Beach, the Southern Railway has been operating trains at a frequency of 25 minutes, causing hardships to office-goers in the morning hours.

Metro takeover of MRTS

To carry out a comprehensive transformation of the MRTS network to Metro-standards, Chennai Metro Rail plans to begin the upgrade with six stations and will float four bids shortly.

According to officials of Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL), with MoU signing between the Tamil Nadu government and Southern Railway planned by the end of this month, CMRL proposes to call for four tenders — for procurement of trains, civil repairs and upgradation, revamp of the depot or the maintenance shed, and hiring of general consultants.

The first priority will be to bring on board the general consultants because they will assist Chennai Metro Rail in drafting the detailed project report based on their preliminary project report and to handhold them during the course of the takeover of the 19.3-km MRTS network.

“Initially, we want to start the revamp in six stations including Indira Nagar, Kasturba Nagar, Velachery, Taramani, Perungudi, and Thiruvanmiyur since all of them cannot be taken up at the same time,” an official said.

“The first move will be to enhance security, change the flooring and improve the upkeep. These improvements can be done soon. Replacement of lifts and escalators will take some time as these need at least two years for manufacturing and installation. Simultaneously, the rest of the revamp work within stations too will be under way” the official said.

Following this, the renovation will be taken up in the other stations too. Similarly, the delivery of the first train will take about two years from the time of awarding the contract.