In its first month of operation, about two lakh people have travelled through the underground section of the Chennai Metro Rail from Thirumangalam to Nehru Park.
The addition of this 8 km new underground stretch with seven stations has pushed up the average number of travellers in the Chennai Metro Rail network by 1,000.
Ever since the first service started two years ago, about 80 lakh people have travelled through this facility. According to officials of Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL), usually about 11,000-12,000 people take the system on weekdays and about 13,000-14,000 on weekends and other government holidays, but there has been an marginal hike owing to the addition of the underground stretch.
Weekend joyrides
“The first two weeks after the inauguration saw a good number of people taking the underground service and there are regular commuters travelling through the stretch now. During weekends, we still have people taking joyrides along the stretch,” an official said.
In the underground stretch, Thirumangalam and Nehru Park Metro Rail stations have the maximum number of commuters and Anna Nagar Tower and Anna Nagar East the least.
“Since Thirumangalam and Nehru Park are the terminating stations, there is more turnout here,” an official said.
Officials noted that the number of people travelling to the airport too has gone up after the direct connectivity from Nehru Park was launched.
The first service of Chennai Metro Rail started in June 2015 from Koyambedu to Alandur, and in September 2016 another elevated stretch from Little Mount to Chennai airport became operational.