CHENNAI (Metro Rail News): The Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR) will become an important metro rail hub with lines passing through the main road at major junctions: Okkiam Thoraipakkam, and Sholinganallur which allow people to switch their trains on different lines to reach different parts of the city and also access to East Coast Road (ECR) and Velachery with the respective stations as a part of Phase II.
If the state government decides to extend lines to ECR and Velachery, the design of the stations at Okkiyam Thoraipakkam and Sholinganallur will be changed to allow for the addition of platforms and tracks in the future. Because of this, connecting ECR to the metro network won’t require building a new route that crosses OMR’s metro lines to connect ECR with the rest of the city; it only needs to be linked to the existing stations at these two intersections.
In Phase-2, Okkiyam Thoraipakkam is part of corridor-3 (Madhavaram Milk Colony to Siruseri Sipcot), whereas Sholinganallur will be an interchange station links the corridor-3 to corridor-5 (Madhavaram Milk Colony to Sholinganallur).
According to a metro rail official, the modifications made to these stations are minimal that won’t significantly raise project costs. The official further mentioned that they could construct a T-junction by linking ECR and Velachery either with Okkiyam Thoraipakkam or Sholinganallur, or both.
The concourse level of these stations will be constructed at an angle to allow for the future addition of platforms and for the creation of integrated stations. It will resemble the foot overbridge that links multiple platforms at Central or Egmore stations.
The Passengers from Anna Nagar, Porur, Alandur, Madipakkam, Nungambakkam, Adyar, and Madhavaram are able to change corridors at Okkiyam Thoraipakkam or Sholinganallur to travel to East Coast Road soon after OMR becomes a metro rail hub.
This metro link will reduce travel time from OMR to ECR or Velachery by 50% to 80%. There are currently four other routes that may be taken to reach Velachery from Sholinganallur in less than 45 minutes during rush hour.
