A Metro train heading to Poonamallee Bypass Station from Porur during the trial run on Friday. 
| Photo Credit: VELANKANNI RAJ B

Chennai Metro Rail’s stretch from Koyambedu to Chennai Trade Centre in Nandambakkam via Alapakkam will be ready by June 2026. This is part of the phase-II project’s corridor 5.

After the completion of the trial run on the downline track between Porur Junction and Poonamallee Bypass, M.A. Siddique, managing director of the Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) said, “By this time next year, we plan to extend the connectivity from Porur to Power House. Similarly, we will also complete the work on the stretch from Alapakkam to Chennai Trade Centre, and Koyambedu to Alapakkam.”

Commuters who want to travel from Koyambedu to Chennai Trade Centre, can change trains in any of these four interchange stations: Alapakkam, Valasaravakkam, Karambakkam, and Alwarthirunagar.

Meanwhile, more than a month after the first trial for the CMRL’s phase-II project began on the onward track, the second stage of trial on the downline track began on Friday. Around 2 p.m., the train was brought from the Poonamallee Depot facility where it was stationed, to the Porur Junction on the onward track. An hour later, it took off at a speed of 20-25 kmph on the downline track from Porur Junction, and reached the Poonamallee Bypass station in half an hour.

Mr. Siddique said: “The project is on track, and we will open the first stretch [Poonamallee Bypass to Porur Junction] in December. At present, in the downline, the speed of the train was 20-25 kmph. We will slowly increase the speed to 60-70 kmph, and then finally run it at the maximum speed of 90 kmph. We have got six train sets so far, with the sixth one arriving on Thursday. The signalling system will arrive soon, and we will begin testing that software as well.”

Officials said one of the major challenges while building the Poonamallee-Porur stretch was faced during its construction from Karayanchavadi to Kattupakkam, as a flyover was also planned there.

Mr. Siddique said the station work between Poonamallee Bypass and Porur Junction would be completed in three months. Since train operators will be manning these driverless trains for four to five months initially, the CMRL is in the process of hiring them. Subsequently, their training will begin, and continue till December 2025.