Metro Rail continues to wait for approval from Railway Board

Three months after the inspection of a section of the phase II project was completed, the Chennai Metro Rail is yet to receive a few mandatory approvals from the Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO) and the Railway Board, Ministry of Railways.

The Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) has raised the issue with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and the Project Monitoring Group of the Union government. This group was formed to address the bottlenecks in large-scale infrastructure projects in the country.

Approvals from the RDSO and the Board are a prerequisite for a few aspects, including train, signalling and telecom, track, and traction.

They are necessary for the Chennai Metro Rail to start train operations between Poonamallee and Porur, a part of phase II project’s corridor 4.

In August, a team of officials from the RDSO conducted extensive testing, checking various parameters essential for safe operations along the Poonamallee-Porur stretch.

According to CMRL officials, based on the testing, the RDSO must approve the speed at which trains can be operated in the phase II project. The Railway Board has granted approval for the track, civil, and traction system. “But they are yet to issue the RDSO speed certificateand grant approval for the signalling and telecom system,” an official said.

The officials said such approvals were usually granted within 15 days or, at most, a month. “It is unusual that some of the approvals have not yet been given. We were asked some queries after the testing and inspections, but we have already answered them. It is not clear why approvals have not yet been granted. One of the senior officials [from CMRL] will have a meeting with the railway officials, after which we will know if they need additional information or if there is any issue,” another official said.

Apart from these approvals, the Commissioner of Railway Safety will also need to give final approval before the stretch can be opened for passenger operations. The CMRL is likely to invite them for inspection after the station construction work is completed.