CMRL Conducts Test Run with OHE Vehicle Between Airport & Alandur

On March 1 and 4, the Chennai Metro Rail Ltd. operated an overhead electrification maintenance vehicle between the Airport and Alandur stations to test the alignment of the tracks along this 5 km stretch. The 6 man CMRL crew on this self propelled vehicle manufactured by BEML with dimensions similar to Chennai’s Alstom metro trains also checked for any physical obstructions along the way such as the walkway grill on the viaduct and the stations’ platforms which in the past have caused issues in Jaipur.

Alignment of Airport – Alandur – view Chennai Metro map & information

Leaving Alandur – Photo Copyright: Chennai Metro Rail

Arriving at the Airport station – Photo Copyright: Jambu Lingam

Photo Copyright: Jambu Lingam

Actual trial runs on this stretch will begin after electrical and signalling works along the route are completed by the end of this month. Gradually trial runs will be extended northwards towards Little Mount station, the last station before the 32.10 km Airport – Wimco Nagar line heads under Anna Salai Road, for a combined distance of 8 km between the Airport and Little Mount.

This section along with the Koyambedu to Nehru Park (8 km) and Alandur to St. Thomas Mount (1.5 km) sections are all set to start operations by the end of this year and will add 17.5 km of metro routes to the existing 10 km route between Koyambedu and Alandur.

For more updates on Chennai’s metro, check out the Chennai section of The Metro Rail Guy!

– TMRG