Sunday, May 14, 2017

The Chennai Metro II

The third stretch of  the Chennai metro, and the first underground stretch, was inaugurated today by the Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister  E. Palanisamy today. The trains were crowded, but the crowds were cheerful and applauded  the arrival of the trains. The trains run between Thirumangalam and Nehru Park, a distance of about 8  kms. The Chennai crowds missed the late CM J. Jayalalitha, who had inaugurated the first two stretches.

Here is a video of the first train service. This time, there were  garlands and decorations inside the cars, as well, and free rides till 2.00 pm. Hopefully the rest of the network will get completed in time (scheduled to be July 2018), so that overground commuters can get access to roads cleared of the construction and obstructions required for the Metro. If travel times and access for commuters get as seriously cut as they are supposed to, the entire exercise would have been worth the time and trouble, to say nothing of the expense. Here's hoping for the best, and also for no safety issues. The train stations have been constructed with all modern safety measures, but Anna Salai did cave in a  little bit three weeks ago! However, let us not be needlessly alarmist.  We look forward to taking the train.


This blog post by Neelima Gupte and Sumathi Rao.