Work for Chennai Metro Rail’s Phase II network under way on Uthamar Gandhi Road in Nungambakkam.
\| Photo Credit: R. RAGU

Near the upscale Khader Nawaz Khan (KNK) Road, Chennai Metro Rail Phase II’s Nungambakkam station has been slowly taking shape and is expected to opened in a couple of years. Now, tunnelling work to link this station with the one on Sterling Road has started.

In the 118.9-km Phase II network, the underground stretch from Nungambakkam to Sterling Road is part of corridor 3 (Madhavaram to SIPCOT via Nungambakkam and Adyar), which covers a distance of 45.8 km. While the Nungambakkam station is on Uthamar Gandhi Road, near Wallace Garden and KNK Road, the Sterling Road station is near Good Shepherd Matriculation Higher Secondary School. Uthamar Gandhi Road will have one more Metro station of corridor 3, named Anna Flyover Metro, near Ispahani Centre. Since this road has colleges, government offices, and other commercial establishments, the stations coming up here are expected to benefit thousands of commuters.

According to officials of Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL), the tunnelling from Nungambakkam to Sterling Road, which just started, will be completed by January next year. “The length of this underground stretch is 500 metres. Since the soil is mostly clayey, we don’t foresee any challenges, and it is expected to be a fairly easy tunnelling drive,” an official said.

The tunnel boring machines will mostly drill under Uthamar Gandhi Road, Valluvar Kottam Road, and a handful of buildings to reach the Sterling Road junction. While commuters are happy with the connectivity of a mass rapid transit coming up, they want the work to be completed at the earliest since there are traffic diversions and reduced road spaces.

Shoba Mothinath, a resident of Wallace Garden, said that once the entire network was completed, Chennai Metro Rail network would definitely be a boon for the residents of Nungambakkam. “The Phase I network has shown how many commuters have benefited by the connectivity, especially to the Chennai airport. But CMRL should finish the work soon and not draw it out. It has already been many months since the work started. They should complete the work at least before the monsoon,” she added.

Published - July 20, 2026 08:44 pm IST