CHENNAI: The Commissioner of Metro Railways Safety (CMRS) has officially completed vital inspections from Poonamallee bypass to Vadapalani Metro station here on Wednesday.
With largely positive comments from CMRS, the inspection report is expected to be submitted to the Railway Board at the earliest, say the Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) officials.
CMRS Anant Madhukar Chowdhary conducted remote testing on Wednesday from the CMRL headquarters at Nandanam. While an on-site inspection was held on Tuesday. Speaking to DT Next, a senior CMRL official said, “On Wednesday, CMRS tested the Operation Control Centre (OCC) from Nandanam. The controllers from the head office would send commands to train operators to check if the signals are well received. This is a crucial test for wrapping the report.”
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, CMRS conducted multiple speed tests from Poonamallee to Porur Metro station and from Porur to Vadapalani. CMRL officials say that multiple trains were also held, with two trains passing each other. “After the two-day inspection, the comments were positive before CMRS left Chennai on Wednesday evening. We anticipate the report will be submitted to the Railway Board at the earliest, subsequently, getting approval from the board within a couple of days post submission,” added the official.
Hence, CMRL is expecting to commence the commercial operations from Poonamallee bypass to Vadapalani Metro station, via Porur Metro station, at the earliest. When asked about a few lapses highlighted by the CMRS during his February second week visit, the CMRL official assured that “all the necessary and important observations, like the emergency staircase, among others, have been addressed”.
With the inspection of civil works completed in the second week and remaining key tests wrapped up this week, CMRL is looking forward to beginning the first leg of operations in phase II.