Chennai Metro Rail’s Poonamallee-Vadapalani stretch sees over 25,000 passengers on day 1

A total of 25,474 passengers travelled on the first day of the opening of Chennai Metro Rail’s Phase II stretch from Poonamallee to Vadapalani on Sunday.

According to officials of Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL), a total of 2.19 lakh passengers travelled in both phase I and phase II network on Sunday, recording nearly 15% increase in the number of passengers who travelled.

Around 4 p.m., before the first train started at Poonamallee and Vadapalani, passengers gradually began to trickle in at various stations in the 14.6-km network. Though the passenger traffic was minimal in the initial half hour, there was a big rush from 5 p.m., which continued till the last service at 9 p.m. Thousands of people, be it youth, families with children or senior citizens, arrived to use the newly opened stretch on Sunday. The Poonamallee Bypass Metro Rail station had the maximum footfall, recording nearly 4,800 passengers and this was followed by Porur Junction Metro Rail station which witnessed about 4,000 passengers.

Peak hours crowd

Officials said, while Sunday comprised mostly of people going on joy rides, the crowd continued during the peak hours on Monday morning as well. “We witnssed hundreds of students and office-goers. This is not a new system anymore. People have travelled in the phase I network and have seen how beneficial this system is and hence we are hoping they become regular travellers in the phase II network too,” an official said.

E. Sivaramakrishnan, a resident of Kattupakkam said, every day he would spend more than a hour on road to commute from his residence to his workplace in Vadapalani. “Today, it took me just 20 minutes to reach Vadapalani. This is unbelievable. Navigating the traffic on my two-wheeler used to be exhausting. Now, I’m glad, they have finally opened this stretch. But after alighting at Vadapalani, I’m forced to take a long walk since the entry/exit at Arcot Road has still not been opened. This aspect of the travel is quite tiring,” he said.