RVNL bags a part of metro line construction of Chennai Metro

Rail Vikas Nigam has emerged as the lowest bidder for the much-awaited IT corridor from Sholinganallur to SIPCOT of Chennai Metro Rail (CMRL). With three corridors — 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), the phase 2 project of Chennai Metro is expected to drastically reduce travel time from one end of the city to the other. The Sholinganallur-SIPCOT stretch is a part of the corridor 3 and is dotted by several IT companies and educational institutions and will particularly help thousands of working professionals and students beat the traffic and travel back and forth to different areas. On this 10-km elevated stretch, the stations proposed are — Sholinganallur Lake, Ponniamman Temple, Sathyabama University, St Joseph College, Semmancheri, Gandhi Nagar, Navalur, Siruseri, SIPCOT 1 and SIPCOT 2. The contract for this work would be awarded shortly. This elevated stretch will be built in about three years and unlike underground work, it is possible to finish it at a good pace. “At present, there are a lot of IT workers who travel to either Alandur or Little Mount and take a bus to OMR. But this may change once the connectivity is established through the phase 2 project. We have several interchange stations planned for linking phase 1 and phase 2 and want to make the connection seamless for commuters,” an official of the CMRL said.