OMR commuters have to wait longer for Metro Rail service

Chennai Metro Rail Limited's Phase II project aims to reduce commute time in congested IT Corridor with strategic planning.

R. Nandhini, a resident of Anna Nagar, spends an hour commuting every day to her office at Perungudi. “If I get late and caught in the peak-hour traffic, I spend close to two hours on the road. Had a Metro Rail train been running to the the Old Mahabalipuram Road now, my commute time would have halved,” she says.

Other commuters say they find it difficult to travel through the Old Mahabalipuram Road, the Information Technology Corridor, because of traffic congestion, the poor condition of service roads, and the diminished road space.

Unlike Phase I of the Metro Rail project, which runs only 45 km and Phase I extension that covers 9 km, the 118.9-km Phase II covers most locations in the city. But since the project is expansive, Chennai Metro Rail Limited will begin operations in different corridors one stretch after another. Poonamallee-Porur will be the first stretch to operate by the end of next year.

The IT Corridor, which falls in corridor 3 (Taramani-SIPCOT), will start operating only after three years, if the contractors meet the deadlines.

In 2008, the IT Corridor began to take shape, and the six-lane carriageway of Rajiv Gandhi Salai was opened. The stretch spans 45 km today. Since it is home to some of the big companies and a huge population, Chennai Metro Rail Limited should have considered opening the IT Corridor line first in Phase II, say residents of the Old Mahabalipuram Road.

K. Karthik, a resident of Sholinganallur, says Chennai Metro Rail Limited should have built a network along the IT Corridor in Phase I itself. “The Phase I network is running on roads which have great bus connectivity with better traffic management. Had the government created a Metro Rail network in the Old Mahabalipuram Road area in Phase I when the traffic situation was manageable, lakhs of people would have been benefited today,” he says.

At peak hours, all commuters, from school students to office-goers, spend a long time on roads as the congestion has increased in the last decade. “Had the authorities decided to build the IT Corridor stretch first at least in this phase, it would have helped a lot,” he adds.