Chennai: With Chennai witnessing heavy downpour for the past few days, the Chennai Metro Rail Limited(CMRL) has announced that the metro trains will function with a frequency of 10 minutes till Friday(Nov 12, 2021).
As per a report published in Time of India(TOI), due to heavy downpour in the city, the Chennai Metro Rail Limited(CMRL) will adopt a Sunday timeline till Nov 12, 2021. IMD, the principal agency responsible for weather forecasting has predicated that a cyclonic circulation over the Bay of Bengal is likely to turn into a low-pressure area and further turn into a Depression, which is set to bring in heavy spells of rain over the rain-battered Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Coastal Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala during next five days.
Isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely over Tamil Nadu on Tuesday and heavy to very heavy rain at a few places with isolated extremely heavy rainfall is very likely on November 10 and 11.
The Chennai Metro trains will begin operating from 5:30 AM and continue till 11 PM with a frequency of 10 minutes. A monitoring committee has been formed by the Chennai metro rail limited to track the weather updates and to take necessary actions on the operation of metro trains respectively.
CMRL managing Director Pradeep Yadav has instructed the newly formed committee to track wind speeds using anemometers, a device that is used to measure wind speed and its direction. The device has been installed at several locations. The newly formed committee is advised to take necessary measures respectively.
Keeping in mind the safety of the passengers, the metro train will be suspended if the wind speed exceeds 90 kmph. The metro train speed needs to be slowed down if the wind speed exceeds 70 kmph. The monitor committee will ensure whether the Chennai Metro Rail Limited is equipped with motor pumps, that will help to drain out water if in case the underground r elevated corridors get flooded with rainwater.
The monitoring committee will be responsible to suspend the train operations during rough wind conditions. The Chennai Metro Rail Limited(CMRL) has 21 underground stations and 18 elevated stations with a wide network of 54km in Chennai. Presently, a total of 95,000 individuals use the service on a day-to-day basis.