By February-end, the CRS had granted conditional approval for the Poonamallee to Porur stretch, and the Porur to Vadapalani stretch received provisional approval in the last week of May.
| Photo Credit: J. Johan Sathyadas
After four months of delay, Chennai Metro Rail’s first stretch of the phase II project from Poonamallee to Vadapalani was ready last month and received the final approval as well. But even as commuters wait with high expectation, the stretch hasn’t been inaugurated yet.The phase II project that encompasses three corridors—Madhavaram to SIPCOT (corridor 3), Poonamallee to Light House (corridor 4), and Madhavaram to Sholinganallur (corridor 5), taking the total length of the network to 118.9 km is gradually making headway.Five years ago, the work to build corridor 4 of the project took off on Arcot Road. At first, Chennai Metro Rail decided to open the Poonamallee to Porur stretch by December 2025 and then, subsequently, this plan was altered.February deadlineChennai Metro Rail opted to finish the Vadapalani station alone (thereby adding connectivity to phase I network) and the deadline was pushed to February.By the end of February, the Commissioner of Railway Safety granted conditional approval for the Poonamallee to Porur and in the following months, after a couple of safety inspections, the stretch from Porur to Vadapalani too received the provisional approval in the last week of May.Muralikrishnan, a commuter residing close to Arcot Road said, after witnessing trial runs for several months now, it is disappointing that the stretch hasn’t been opened yet.“Commuters should be the priority. The lives of thousands of commuters will become easier if we can board the Chennai Metro Rail system from Arcot Road to travel to many core areas of the city. As soon as the facility is ready, it should be inaugurated without making commuters wait for it for long,” he said. Sources said, the Poonamallee-Vadapalani stretch will be inaugurated very shortly.On social media platforms such as X too, several commuters are asking every day why they are made to wait to see the opening of this stretch. Chidambaram Saravanan, one of the commuters, posted: “Why the metro service between Poonamallee and Vadapalani has not started? Please let us know the reason?” Published - June 09, 2026 04:51 am IST
