Chennai Metro snippets

In a bid to enable train passengers to switch seamlessly to the Metro Rail, passenger walkways or subways are planned to link four suburban railway stations with Metro Rail stations. Such walkways, some of which may even have walkalators, will come up at Anna Nagar, Chennai Central, Moore Market Complex and Guindy. Sources said discussions were on with Chennai Metro Rail officials to find out ways and also finalise details to link these railway stations with the Metro line. Three Metro Rail stations are coming up in the Anna Nagar area — Tirumangalam, Anna Nagar Tower and Anna Nagar East. “We are thinking of linking the railway station on the Villivakkam-Anna Nagar route to the nearest Metro rail station,” said Southern Railway general manager Deepak Krishan. An official said, “The railway line will not be linked because the gauge used by the railways and that used by Metro are different. So, we are planning to construct an exclusive walkway or subway so that passengers getting down at Anna Nagar railway station can access the Metro Rail without stepping out into the street.” Further, suggestions have been made to install walkalators in case the distance between a railway station and the Metro Rail station is more than half a kilometre. A railway line that branches off from Villivakkam runs up to Anna Nagar. This was once used to transport new coaches built by Integral Coach Factory (ICF). The line was strengthened and opened for suburban passenger traffic in 2003. Though suburban trains do not run on this line, the railways plan to link it to a Metro Rail station so that the line will form a part of the intermodal connection planned, an official added. As two Metro corridors converge at Chennai Central, there will be two Metro stations in front of the railway station. “We plan to build subways from Central station and also the suburban Moore Market Railway station so that passengers can just walk into the Metro stations of their choice,” the official added. The Guindy railway station will also be linked in a similar way because Metro Rail’s Washermanpet-Airport corridor via Anna Salai passes in front of it.