14m-wide pedestrian subway linking central station and GH to open soon

14m-wide pedestrian subway linking central station and GH to open soon

Old Subway Too Will Be Ready By Jan

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:22.12.2021

A 14-metre-wide pedestrian subway linking MGR central railway station with Rajiv Gandhi government general Hospital(RGGGH) is nearing completion. Work on repairing the old subway will also be completed in January 2022. More than 70,000 people cross the road in front of the railway station during peak hours.

Passengers with luggage and senior citizens can take advantage of the escalators and elevators of the new subway. As one end of the subway will be closer to RGGGH, those visiting the hospital and taking the train or an MTC bus could also have easy access to the facilities. The old subway linking Central Railway station and the MTC bus stop near RGGGH, which is partly open, will also further help pedestrians cross the road easily when it is fully ready.

“The new subway is ready without elevators. Escalators on both sides have been installed. Refurbishment of the old subway is in progress. It will be ready by the end of January 2022,” a metro rail official said.

At present, except for a few who use the pedestrian subway opened in 2018 linking Park Station with Moore Market complex and the underground Central metro, an average 300 people cross the Poonamallee High Road every hour in front of Central Railway station. This is causing traffic congestion.

According to CMRL, in the pre-covid times, more than 70,000 people used to cross Poonamallee High Road around central railway station during peak hours. More than four lakh commuters take suburban, MRTS and long-distance trains from the surrounding stations. In addition, metro rail estimates that nearly 15,000 passengers will board trains at central metro by 2026, so the number of pedestrians will only rise.

To take the pedestrians completely underground and ensure smooth traffic flow on Poonamallee High Road, CMRL planned four pedestrian subways on the stretch between Evening Bazaar Road and Moore Market Complex. They include a nine-metre-wide subway linking Evening Bazaar Road and RGGGH, a nine-metre-wide subway linking southern railway building with RGGGH, a 14-metre-wide subway linking central railway station with RGGGH and a nine-metre-wide subway to link Park station with Moore Market Complex.

EASY PASSAGE: Passengers with luggage can take advantage of the escalators and elevators of the new subway