Chennai Metro Rail to link areas from Koyambedu to Pattabiram

Chennai Metro Rail plans to extend network to Avadi and Pattabiram, addressing commuter needs in suburban areas.

Chennai Metro Rail is gearing up to submit the detailed project report to build a network from Koyambedu to Avadi and extend it to Pattabiram for the convenience to suburban residents. According to officials of Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL), they will hand over the report to the Tamil Nadu government in February. Thereafter, a decision will be taken on how to implement it. “We have been doing soil tests. We plan to establish a depot a little beyond Pattabiram. We made an inspection of the site of the proposed depot two months ago. Most of the report is complete and we will finish it by February,” says an official.

The Koyambedu-Pattabiram network will have a length of nearly 19 km and stations planned on this stretch include Koyambedu, Padi Pudhu Nagar, Park Road, Vavin, Ambattur Estate Bus Stand, Dunlop, Ambattur Railway Station, Ambattur OT Bus Stand, Thirumullaivoyal, Avadi, and Pattabiram. The cost of this extension project is nearly ₹6,300 crore.

While residents of many areas are excited to witness the Metro Rail network taking shape, there are some who continue to yearn for it. Residents of Avadi, Ambattur, Pattabiram. and Thirumullaivoyal feel that while most of the city has been covered in Metro Rail Phase-I, Phase-I extension and Phase-II, some of the important suburbs like theirs suffer without it.

T. Kalyani, 45, of Avadi says many travel from Avadi, Pattabiram and Ambattur to the core areas of the city such as Guindy, Gopalapuram, and Anna Salai to work in private and government offices. “If we are working for eight hours, the travel time itself would be four hours back and forth. I quit my job because the trip from Avadi to Gopalapuram was unimaginably exhausting. But there are many women who cannot afford to quit. Travel time and journey makes a huge difference to a person’s life. If the Metro Rail is built, we can directly go to the central areas of the city. It would transform the lives of many,” she says.

T. Sadagopan, a resident of Pattabiram, says that while the State government has been focusing on creating jobs in the State and the city, it should be done along with improvement to transport. “A new TIDEL Park has been opened at Pattabiram, but we are still planning for a Metro Rail link to these areas. There should be adequate importance given to connectivity to suburbs such as Avadi and Pattabiram. As the city is rapidly expanding in all directions, some areas alone get the attention and some remain neglected. We need more buses and Metro Rail at the earliest,” he adds.

S. Kirubanandam, 63, of Thirumullaivoyal, often travels to Chennai Central, Pammal, Broadway, and Chintadripet, and his travel time has come down substantially as he uses Metro services for many of his journeys. “Earlier, if I had to travel by bus from my residence to Chennai Central, it would take nearly an hour. But now, I ride my two-wheeler till Thirumangalam and travel by train to Chennai Central. Imagine how much more convenient it would be for us, if there were Metro Rail stations in our area. It will make life easier for lakhs of commuters living in these areas,” he notes.

Traffic congestion has been increasing in Thirumullaivoyal, Avadi, and Pattabiram and there is an immediate need to concentrate on building infrastructure to improve mobility, he says. “Many office-goers from Avadi and Ambattur use the Outer Ring Road through Pattabiram to travel to Vandalur and travelling through these areas at peak hours is tough,” he says.