Plan to develop Parandur as Aero city and township
With work to acquire land for the new Parandur airport underway while the masterplan is getting ready, the Tamil Nadu government has made a decision to extend Chennai’s metro rail by another 93 km to the airport.
The plan is to extend the ongoing Poonamallee-Sriperumbudur line by 28 km to end at the Parandur airport. Reports state that the Chennai Metro Rail Ltd (CMRL) is the first to get the approval to have a line running from the city to the new airport.
As opposed to metro stations being situated every 800 m to 1 km in Phase 1 and other lines, the Poonamallee to Parandur stretch will have stations at a distance of 7-10 km between each other.
To compensate for the distance and time taken, the trains will be designed to be faster and the coaches and tracks may also be modified for increased efficiency.
Officials said that there will be a station located inside the airport for easy access to the terminals.
A reason for multiple stops in Parandur is part of the plan to develop an Aero city which will be a township that will house educational institutions, aviation ancillary units, hotels and a Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) centre for the airport.
A report on 26 Dec cited a Metrorail official saying, “In Parandur, there won’t be just an airport, it will be an airport city. So we will have to provide multiple stations. Our consultant is doing the study. The initial report is likely to be ready in April (2024).”
Corridor-4 in the Spotlight
In 2021, there were talks of a proposal to extend Corridor-4 from Poonamalle bypass to Tirumazhisai. It was later decided in 2022 to extend the Corridor to Parandur. This extension will have the metro rail run through Tirumazhisai, a satellite town with companies and neighbourhoods cropping up frequently.
Tirumazhisai has made tremendous development over the last couple of years. With Kuthambakkam bus terminus, Chennai Outer Ring Road, Pattabiram New Tidel Park-3, and the proposed Parandur airport making waves, Tirumazhisai has turned out to be the centre for housing developments.
Therefore, CMRL’s plan of extending Corridor-4 through Tirumazhisai is brilliant due to its rapid development of communities, said the report. Fiinews.com
