Airport metro plan finalised

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The metro rail project gained momentum with the groundbreaking ceremony for the airport metro station on Wednesday.

The event has kick-started the building of the `48 crore airport metro station that is expected to be ready by July next year.

The airport will be the final destination for the metro that runs from two different starting points: Washermanpet and Central.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has awarded the job to a private company to construct the metro station inside its premises, while CMRL would do mechanical and electrical works like track-laying, transmission lines, power supply and internal finishing.

“Today, we did the bhoomi puja. Within a week, we will start the evacuation works. The metro station will have a total area of 17, 300 sq m with five levels: basement, ground floor, metro ground floor, metro concourse and metro platform,” said Mr R. Ravikumar, CEO of the private firm that has been entrusted with construction of the airport metro station.

He said his company would build a ramp to merge the metro with the airport so that passengers can walk into the terminals.

A link tube will connect the metro rail with the main glass connected tube between the new domestic and international terminal, he added.

“Once the airport metro station is ready, Chennai will be the second airport in the country to have metro rail connectivity,” said AAI director (projects) S. Bhaduri, adding that the city airport will have multi-modal transport system with connectivity to road, suburban railway and metro rail.