CHENNAI: Inspecting the progress of Chennai Metro Rail Phase-2, Tamil Nadu Youth Welfare Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin inaugurated the tunneling work at downtown Royapettah here on Sunday. Launching the tunneling work by Tunnel Boring Machine (TMB), ‘Bhavani’ between Royapettah and Dr Radhakrishnan Salai (Phase-2/corridor-3) covering about 910 meters, Udhayanidhi inspected the underground station work at Royapettah, the double-decker work at Alapakkam and the Poonamallee depot construction in 40.5 acres at Ariyamanthanallur village.
In the social media platform ‘X’, Udhayanidhi said whenever the DMK is in power, Chennai’s public transportation infrastructure is being taken forward to higher levels and inspection of Metro Rail Phase-2 work is part of such initiatives.
Udhayanidhi, who holds the portfolio of Special Programme Implementation, held a meeting to review work by CUMTA, (Chennai Unified Metropolitan Authority, the nodal agency of urban transport in Chennai) including the Chennai Metro Rail Phase-2 work. The minister advised officials to stick to project deadlines.
An official release said the minister reviewed several other initiatives, including a proposal to extend Metro Rail services to the new bus terminus at suburban Kilambakkam from aiport, via Tambaram (15.5 km).
Health Minister Ma Subramanian, DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran, top officials and elected representatives accompanied Udhayanidhi during his inspection.
Officials said the Metro Rail-Phase 2 is likely to witness a phased launch, beginning towards the end of 2025.
Work on the Rs 63,246 crore Chennai Metro Rail Phase-2 project is under various stages of progress and it covers Madhavaram to Siruseri SIPCOT (45.8 km–corridor-3), Lighthouse to Poonamalle Bypass (26.1 km–corridor-4), and Madhavaram to Sholinganallur (47 km–corridor-5) routes.
The first two corridors are operational (Phase-I) and these were completed years ago.
