Chennai Metro opens Washermanpet - Wimco Nagar stretch for public

Chennai, India (Urban Transport News): Prime Minister Narendra Modi today inaugurated the Chennai Metro's 9-km line from Washermanpet to Wimco Nagar, which is the part of Phase I extension. He has launched this stretch from Jawahar Lal Nehru Indoor Stadium, Chennai in presence of chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam, and other officials from state and central government including Channi Metro Rail Limited.

"I am happy that we have inaugurated the 9 km stretch of the Chennai Phase 1 project. Chennai Metro is growing rapidly and helping us in realizing our Aatma Nirbhar Bharat dream. The budget for Metro is one of the largest projects sanctioned for any city in one go. The project will boost 'Ease Of Living' for Chennai & Tamil Nadu," said Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Commissioner for Metro Railway Safety Pradeep Yadav had completed the 3-days safety inspection of this stretch on 8th February 2021 and given his node to open the stretch for the commercial run of metro services. 

The 9.051 km Phase I extension from Washermanpet to Thiruvottriyur (Wimco Nagar) will cover 7 new Metro Stations (2 Underground and 5 Elevated Metro Stations) that will connect the northern part of the city to the Central Business District Area. The project has been completed at a cost of ₹3,770 crores and will link North Chennai with the Airport & Central Railway Station.

Talking about the progress of the Chennai Metro Rail project, Durga Shankar Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, said:

Under Metro, Chennai city will have a 54 km metro with over 3 lakh per day passengers operational & another 119 km under construction. Proposals for MetroLite & MetroNeo for many cities like Coimbatore, Madurai, etc are under preparation. 

"This mass rapid transit brings convenience, comfort, confidence, punctuality & environment-friendly travel for the citizens & visitors in this fast-growing knowledge & industrial city," he added.

It is pertinent to mention here that Prime Minister Modi had inaugurated the final 10-km stretch between AG-DMS and Washermanpet under Phase I on 10th February 2019.

Last year on 21st November 2020, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had laid the foundation stone of Rs 61,843 crore metro rail projects under phase II of Chennai Metro via video conference. 

The phase 2 project, which has been split into three corridors (line 3, 4 & 5), will be funded by the State, Centre and various foreign banks- Japan International Cooperation Agency, Asian Development Band, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AII B) and New Development Bank.

With the opening of the 9-km stretch of phase-I Extension, Chennai Metro has announced to provide a free ride to all passengers on both Blue Line and Green Line from 2 pm till 11 pm on Sunday.

For more details, please explore the "Chennai Metro" page of Urban Transport News.