As commuters continue to await travel in Chennai Metro Rail’s phase II stretch from Poonamallee to Vadapalani, the stretch yet again underwent a safety inspection on Wednesday.

This is the fourth safety inspection held on this stretch since February this year.

Sources said that in the safety inspection held, the trains were operated from Poonamallee to Porur and from Porur to Vadapalani to test the signalling system and the working of integration between various systems such as platform screen doors and the train doors.

On Saturday, the Chief Commissioner of Railway Safety (CCRS) is likely to inspect the 14.6-km stretch from Poonamallee to Vadapalani.

Besides, the CCRS will examine the civil work completed between the Porur and Vadapalani stretch. CCRS is also likely to check the working and integration of the signalling system.

The Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS), who first inspected the stretch in early February, pinpointed a lot of issues and asked Chennai Metro Rail to rectify them.

The CRS had said that the trains must be operated only at a 15-minute frequency from Poonamallee to Porur, and that the speed should not exceed 25 kmph from Porur to Vadapalani.

Glitches rectified

The Chennai Metro Rail completed the civil work based on the concerns flagged by the CRS, held trials, and ironed out the glitches in the signalling system, sources said.

Post this, it wrote to the CCRS requesting easing of the curbs on the frequency and speed.

The CCRS may inspect the facilities and systems again in three days, before granting a relaxation on frequency and speed.

The launch of the Poonamallee-Vadapalani stretch, a part of corridor 4 (Poonamallee to Light House) of the phase II project, has been riddled with delays for months.

Initially, Chennai Metro Rail wanted to start train services from Poonamallee to Porur by December and subsequently modified its plan and aimed to provide connectivity till Vadapalani by February. But the 14.6-km stretch is yet to be opened.