Metro rail tunneling in Royapettah, one of Chennai’s most congested central areas, is expected to start in September. Officials announced that a tunnel boring machine (TBM), currently completing its task near the Adyar River, will be redeployed to Royapettah.
This locality will form part of the extensive 45.8 km Corridor-3 of Phase-2, stretching from Madhavaram Milk Colony in the north to Siruseri Sipcot in the south. “The TBM launching shaft in Royapettah is prepared,” an onsite metro rail engineer reported. “After finishing its work in Adyar, the TBM will be dismantled, refurbished, transported, reassembled, and relaunched in Royapettah. This process requires time, so our target to commence tunneling in Royapettah is September. Once operational, the TBM will be retrieved in Thousand Lights.”
Officials further detailed that two TBMs working on the section from Greenways Road to Adyar Junction via the Adyar River are scheduled to complete their tasks sequentially by June. One of these machines will then be relocated to Royapettah.
CMRL Managing Director M. A. Siddique previously stated that the 116.1 km Phase-2 will be opened to the public incrementally from 2025 to 2028. Engineers noted that the construction of the perimeter walls for the Royapettah underground station and the launching shaft has been challenging due to the heavy traffic at the busy Westcott Road-Peter’s Road junction, which has slowed progress.
The station is planned below this junction, with the YMCA grounds and Government Royapettah Hospital on either side. The construction of the station’s outer walls required diverting traffic on one side of the road to build half of the station’s walls before shifting work to the other side. “After completing work on one half of the road, we covered it with a slab to allow traffic flow while we start on the other half,” an engineer explained. The construction site is in a densely trafficked area, and the metro rail barricades have made it challenging for motorists.
“The metro work is causing significant traffic congestion near Royapettah GH on Peter’s Road, especially during peak hours. A traffic constable is stationed there, but the volume of vehicles converging at the junction under the flyover is overwhelming. This causes a traffic slowdown for vehicles entering Peter’s Road to reach Anna Salai from West Cott Road and from Royapettah Police Station side. Whites Road is largely unusable, exacerbating congestion near the Clock Tower junction as motorists try to avoid the area,” said S. Vikram, a resident of Royapettah.