Mass Rapid Transit System (Chennai)

For the true metro under construction, see Chennai Metro

The Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) is an elevated line of the urban mass transit system (metro-like cityrail) in Chennai (Madras), India. The line currently runs within city from Chennai Beach (Madras Beach) to Velachery, covering a distance of 25 km with 21 stations. In spite of full technical and logical separation from the Chennai Suburban Railway, the MRTS is operated by the state-owned Southern Railway (SR), a zone of Indian Railways.

History

Chennai, India's fourth-largest urban agglomeration, has a well-established suburban railway network, which dates back to 1931, when services began on the metre-gauge line from Beach to Tambaram. Two more suburban services were begun in 1985—Madras Central to Arakkonam and Madras Central to Gummidipoondi, both of which were broad-gauge services.

In the 1980s, the government began planning for a new railway line inside the city. The Suburban Lines offered no connectivity to Central and South Madras (as Chennai was known then). Planning began in 1985 and construction was started in 1991 . The first phase was much delayed and finally opened in 1995,but only upto chepauk.In 1997 the rest of the stations from chepauk to mylapore were completed and services started 1997. The section of the line encompassing the first three Stations—Beach, Fort and Park, is at grade; after Park it begins climbing. All the Stations after Park...
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