Chennai Metro update

Larsen and Toubro (L&T) has won the contract to construct 9.73 km of an elevated corridor for the Chennai Metro Rail project, which promises to make commuting in the city faster and hassle-free. Except for the stretch from the Officers Training Academy (OTA) to the airport, which the Airports Authority of India wants constructed underground, builders have now been identified for almost the entire elevated stretch. L&T will design and construct the 4.56-km elevated viaduct from Ashok Nagar to St Thomas Mount at an estimated Rs 141.13 crore and the 5.17-km stretch from Saidapet to the OTA at Rs 173.30 crore. The company was awarded the two contracts on Monday, said Chennai Metro Rail chief public relations officer S Krishnamurthy. A senior official said discussions were on with the AAI on building an elevated corridor between the OTA and the airport as the AAI had requested that this corridor be built underground to prevent it from coming in the way of flight operations on the secondary runway. “The stretch will be an elevated corridor but the tender process will start only after discussions with airport officials,” he added.

Builders identified for almost all of the elevated corridor From Officers Training Academy to the airport, Airports Authority of India wants an underground corridor to be constructed This will not come in the way of operations on the secondary runway, says AAI

Separate tenders to identify builders to construct stations along the elevated stretch and also at St Thomas Mount Metro rail to have two corridors

The Metro Rail plans to issue separate tenders to identify builders to construct stations along the elevated stretch and also at St Thomas Mount which will be a hub of Metro Rail, MRTS and suburban railway line. “Metro Rail will occupy level two while MRTS will occupy level one of the elevated station that will be built at St Thomas Mount,” sources said. A pre-qualification bid meeting was held at the Metro Rail office on Thursday to brief companies about the requirements to bid.

Work on Metro rail began on June 10, 2009.

Metro rail will have two corridors with a combined length of 45 km — one from Washermanpet to the airport and the other from Central to St Thomas Mount via Koyambedu. The total cost is estimated at Rs 14,600 crore.