Chennai: This gleaming metropolis will on Wednesday become the second Indian city to have direct metro connectivity to the airport. The Chennai metro corridor connecting the city with the domestic and international airports will be thrown open on Wednesday morning, that would bring smiles on the faces of thousands of commuters who can hope for a hassle-free travel.
Chennai will boast of an airport metro line, though the speed of the trains that runs on the corridor would be much slower than those running on the high-speed corridor in New Delhi, the only other Indian city to have such facility.
The 9-km corridor from Little Mount near Saidapet to Chennai airport, part of the Chennai airport-Thiruvottiyur corridor, will be thrown open to public by Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa and Union urban development minister M. Venkaiah
Naidu.
While Mr Venkaiah would flag off the train from Chennai airport station, Ms Jayalalithaa would join the event via video conferencing from the secretariat.
Commercial operations of the corridor would begin immediately after the inauguration. While the travel from CMBT to Chennai airport, after interchanging the train at Alandur albeit for now, will cost Rs 50, commuters will have to shell out Rs 40 for the ride from Little Mount to the Chennai airport station.
The 16-km distance between CMBT and airport will be covered in just 40 minutes in an air-conditioned environment. The 10-km stretch from Alandur to CMBT is part of the corridor II while Little Mount to airport is a part of corridor I; so the rake movement will be on a loop at Alandur, without any direct train connectivity between the corridors.
“The CMBT line is on the second level at Alandur, so commuters who wish to go from CMBT to airport, will have to get down and use the lift to access the first level and change the metro,” said a senior official.
“The loop facility is available only in Chennai metro as of now but in providing direct transit between CMBT and Airport, a lot of time would go in a traversal of the loop as it would slow down the train. Based on the patronage, future public requests and ease of travel, we might start a direct transit in future,” a senior official told Deccan Chronicle.
The official added that once the Tiruvottiyur line is complete, check-in and luggage drop facility will be introduced at Central metro station with help from airport authorities. Meanwhile, the CMRS would inspect the St Thomas Mount station, which is part of the Chennai Central-St Thomas Mount Corridor, on Wednesday.
