The construction of the Airport-Kilambakkam line of the Chennai Metro will be prioritised

After the State government approves the proposal, the CMRL will ask the Center to approve the line after receiving preliminary approval from the Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority.

The Airport to Kilambakkam line of the Chennai Metro Rail was given a boost because it will be completed alongside the phase 2 project on a priority basis and is most likely to be implemented soon.

In-principle approval was granted at the recent meeting of the Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA). According to sources, the High Powered Committee recently gave its preliminary approval to this project, and the government order is soon to follow.

According to a CUMTA official, the state government is anticipated to begin operations at the Kilambakkam Bus Terminus by January of the following year, which will cause the traffic in the south to worsen.

"Approximately 65 to 70 CMBT operations will gradually move to Kilambakkam, 20% to Kuthambakkam, and the remaining 10% and 15% to Madhavaram. As a result, we anticipate that traffic in the vicinity of places like Tambaram, Chromepet, and Perungalathur will drastically increase. So, in addition to the phase 2 project itself, we want to prioritise the Airport-Kilambakkam Metro Rail project, he said.

Additionally, there are plans to build a skywalk and a railway link at Kilambakkam to connect with the bus terminal. "Since the Airport-Kilambakkam project won't be finished for at least a few years, we want to establish a suburban rail stop at Kilambakkam first. We've planned how to carry out this procedure and aim to complete the railway link by the beginning of 2024," he continued.