Proposed Thapalpetti station likely to be dropped in Chennai Metro phase 2 project

The station, which was to be the next stop after Madhavaram, is likely to be scrapped as the distance between the two stations is too short officials said; this is part of corridor 3 of Metro’s phase 2 project

One of the key corridors in the phase 2 project of Chennai Metro Rail Ltd. (CMRL) has gone through a minor change in the alignment, and one station is likely to be dropped.

Madhavaram to SIPCOT (corridor 3 – 45.8 km ), Light House to Poonamallee (corridor 4 – 26.1 km ) and Madhavaram to Sholinganallur (corridor 5 – 47 km) are the three corridors which will be constructed as part of the Metro’s phase 2 project, at a cost of ₹61,843 crore. In its entirety, the phase 2 project runs to a length of 118.9 km.

In Corridor 3, according to the initial plan, after Madhavaram Milk Colony, the next stop was to Thapalpetti station. Now, talks are ongoing to remove the Thapalpetti station in this corridor. According to CMRL officials, the distance between Madhavaram Milk Colony and Thapalpetti station was too short, and the projected number of passengers who would use this station in the future was negligible, which is why it may be removed. 

“The distance between these two stations is only a little more than half a kilometre. We should be able to provide reasons, and justify them, if underground stations are built very close to each other as we may be asked to do by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. This is because underground stations are cost intensive when compared to elevated ones. The general consultants are altering the alignment a little and the distance between Madhavaram Milk Colony and Murari Hospital (the station after Thapalpetti) will be reduced to some extent now,” an official said.

Corridor 3 is predominantly underground and it is the first section where the tunnelling work has begun at Madhavaram towards Kellys. Similarly, another section from Kellys to Taramani too, will see the tunnelling work take off in the coming weeks.