Chennai Metro Phase II: Track Laying To Begin On Poonamallee-Porur Stretch Next Month

Construction work on phase II of Chennai Metro Rail, which runs from Poonamallee to Porur, is progressing rapidly.

The laying of track is scheduled to commence by the end of next month, with preparatory work beginning next week.

The phase II project, with a budget of Rs 61,843 crore, began construction in 2021. Once completed, it will extend the metro rail network to cover 116 km across three corridors: Madhavaram to SIPCOT (corridor 3 - 45.4 km), Light House to Poonamallee (corridor 4 - 26.1 km), and Madhavaram to Sholinganallur (corridor 5 - 44.6 km).

The first stretch to be commissioned in phase II will be Poonamallee to Porur, expected to be completed by the end of 2025 or early 2026.

According to officials from Chennai Metro Rail Ltd. (CMRL), the Poonamallee to Porur stretch will be elevated, and a significant portion of the viaduct work has already been completed.

The rails for this stretch, manufactured in India, have already arrived in the city. Loading of the rails onto the viaduct will begin next week, followed by several weeks of preparatory work.

The actual process of laying the track will commence by the end of October and is expected to take approximately six months to complete for a total distance of 20 km, reports The Hindu.

Although there was initially a plan to start track work in July, it has been delayed and is now scheduled to begin next month. Officials have cited a few challenges in executing the track work, particularly in areas where there are gaps in the viaduct due to the recent handover of land to the contractor for station work. Once these gaps are filled, track work will proceed in those sections as well.