Chennai: Assuring that everything was being done to speed up work on the Chennai metro rail project , the state government on Thursday said it planned to appeal to the Centre to clear the Washermenpet-Thiruvottriyur corridor and the detailed project report (DPR) for its Phase II without any further delay.
“The government will ensure faster clearance from the Centre for the Washermenpet-ThiruvÂottriyur corridor, and for the DPR for phase II ,” Governor K. Rosaiah told the state Assembly.
He said the state government had so far contributed Rs 3,060.74 crore as share capital and subordinate debt for the project which had also received back-to-back loan support of Rs 3,864.83 crore from the Japan International Cooperation Agency.
Chief minister J. Jayalalithaa had inaugurated the metro rail’s test run on November 6 last year. The project, scheduled to be completed by 2015, intends to provide a convenient, modern and economical mode of public transport, properly integrated with other means of transport like buses, suburban trains and the MRTS for the people of the city.
Maintaining that the nearly three years of the AIADMK government had brought significant changes in the state, the Governor claimed Tamil Nadu’s dream of inclusive growth had now become a reality.
“This was possible mainly due to the vision of chief minister JayalÂalithaa to adopt an inclusive growth model placing the highest emphasis on equitable development and on greater participation of the common people in the socio-economic development process of the state,” he added.
Next: Metro full-fledged trial by mid February
Metro full-fledged trial by mid February
K. Karthikeyan | DC
Chennai: Trial run of the city’s first metro rail was conducÂted on Thursday. A four-car train was moved on the ramp from the yard in the sprawling Rs 196 crore-depot of metro rail in KoyamÂbedu.
The train was operated on the ramp (elevated corridor) for a distance of 1.5 km from the yard. Managing director of CMRL, officials of Alstom India Ltd, supplier of trains to CMRL and the general consultant travelled on the train during the trial run. Similar short trial runs will be conducted for the next four days, a senior CMRL official said.
The train, which underwent trial run, was the first to be shipped from the Alstom factory at Sao Paolo in Brazil. It arrived Chennai on June 6, 2013. Chennaiites should be able to witness the city’s metro train chug off on the elevated corridor on Jawaharlal Nehru Salai in a fortnight.
The train will make its maiden long distance trial run for 5.7kms from Koyambedu to Ashok Nagar by mid February, CMRL officials told Deccan Chronicle.
Though the first railway line from Koyambedu to Ashok Nagar is complete, it requires some finishing (technical) touches to perform the trial run, officials pointed out adding that they would not wait for the parallel (second) line to get over and the trial run would commence as soon as first line is fully fit for trial run.
About four trains have been shipped thus far and another five will be brought from Brazil to Chennai in the coming months even as production of the other trains by Alstom in its factory at Sri City in Tada is underway.
Linking of piers over Kathypara flyover and pending works at Alandur station has indefinitely delayed the trial run beyond Ashok Nagar till St Thomas Mount. CMRL has already served termination notice to its contractor CCCL that undertakes station construction from Koyambedu to St Thomas Mount.
