Chennai Metro Rail is set to begin study reports for building Light House – High Court corridor, Tambaram – Velachery – Guindy corridor, Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) for three corridors connecting a few districts and a high-altitude transport system like ropeway at Mamallapuram, Ooty and Kodaikanal.

According to officials of Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL), they have called for tenders looking for a firm which will prepare a detailed project report (DPR) for two important corridors — Light House to High Court via Secretariat and Tambaram to Guindy via Velachery.

“Light House to High Court will cover nearly 7 km and may have about 4-5 stations covering Marina beach, Thiruvallikeni, High Court and Secretariat. Tambaram to Guindy via Velachery corridor may cover nearly 21 km. The DPRs for this project is likely to be completed in another 3-4 months,” an official said.

CMRL will soon rope in a consultancy firm to execute a detailed feasibility report (DFR) to check the possibility of constructing RRTS for three corridors — Chennai-Chengalpattu-Tindivanam-Villupuram, Chennai-Kanchipuram-Vellore, Coimbatore-Tirupur-Erode-Salem. They have floated bids for this project as well.

“RRTS is a very cost intensive project. Hence, we must see which corridors will need it and will have that kind of a patronage. We are looking at the feasibility of connecting Parandur in the Chennai-Kanchipuram-Vellore corridor. The DFRs may take a bit of time since they will look at ridership and will include a lot of surveys. These are crucial since they tell us whether it will be viable to build RRTS in these corridors,” he added.

These two projects aside, CMRL has called for Expression of Interest from prospective consultants who will then do DFRs for building high altitude transport systems like ropeway in Mamallapuram, Ooty and Kodaikanal.