Chennai Metro Rail’s newly opened Poonamallee–Vadapalani stretch carried 25,474 passengers on its first day, while the combined Phase I and Phase II network recorded 2.19 lakh passengers on Sunday, according to Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) officials.
The 14.6-km stretch, part of Chennai Metro’s Phase II network, was inaugurated by the Prime Minister before services began on Sunday. Passenger numbers were initially limited during the first half-hour after services started at Poonamallee and Vadapalani at around 4 p.m., but traffic increased sharply from 5 p.m. and continued until the last service at 9 p.m.
The Poonamallee Bypass station recorded the highest footfall, with nearly 4,800 passengers, followed by Porur Junction, which saw about 4,000 passengers. The first day’s crowd included young people, families with children and senior citizens, many of whom used the new service to experience the stretch.
CMRL said the overall passenger count across the Phase I and Phase II network was nearly 15% higher on Sunday than the number recorded previously. Officials said that although some of Sunday’s passengers were travelling to experience the new line, the service also attracted students and office-goers during Monday morning’s peak hours.
“We witnessed hundreds of students and office-goers. This is not a new system anymore. People have travelled in the Phase I network and have seen how beneficial this system is and hence we are hoping they become regular travellers in the Phase II network too,” a CMRL official said.
For commuters from the western suburbs, the new stretch is already changing travel times. E. Sivaramakrishnan, a resident of Kattupakkam who works in Vadapalani, said his daily road journey had earlier taken more than an hour. On Monday, he reached Vadapalani in 20 minutes by metro.
However, he said the journey was not seamless after reaching Vadapalani because the entry and exit at Arcot Road had not yet opened. He was required to take a long walk after alighting at the station, adding a final-mile access problem to an otherwise shorter commute.
The early ridership figures provide an initial indication of demand along the Poonamallee, Porur and Vadapalani corridor. CMRL’s next challenge will be converting the opening-week interest and peak-hour use by students and office-goers into sustained daily ridership as passengers begin incorporating the stretch into their regular journeys.
