The phase II of Chennai Metro Rail is likely to start early next year and will be operational in about eight years, the CMRL managing director Pankaj Kumar Bansal said while speaking at a session on ‘Can the Metro Rail Transform Chennai?’. The event was organised by the Chennai International Centre.

The second phase of CMRL will be covering 107 km of the city.  “This project will be taken up in phases. We will first get loans for about 50% of the project since the entire cost runs up to nearly Rs.80,000 crore. The loan will be acquired in phases,” The  Hindu reported the CMRL manager as saying.

One of the focus areas of CMRL is to implement a common ticketing system that the passengers can use across various modes of transport including trains and buses.

Koyambedu to Chennai airport, Little Mount to Chennai airport and Thirumangalam to Nehru Park are the three stretches of Chennai Metro that are completed and operational under phase I of CMRL. By March next year, the stretch from Nehru Park will be extended up to Central and another stretch from Saidapet to AG-DMS is also expected to be operational.

Featured Image Source: Abisheg Jedidiah Fredrick