Consultant soon for Chennai Metro-MRTS merger.

A consultant will soon be appointed for stepping up the process of Chennai Metro Rail taking over the Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS). According to sources, a meeting was held recently to accelerate the process of merging both entities at the earliest.

“Chennai Metro Rail will soon call for a tender for appointing the consultant. The function of the consultant will be to look into the matters of finance and administration and various other issues to make way for the merger. There will be several rounds of discussion between officials of Chennai Metro Rail and Southern Railway even before the process of calling for consultants. This process will take time,” said the source.

The idea of Chennai Metro Rail taking over the MRTS was mooted several years ago with the aim of having a single organisation running both systems.

Currently, there are plans to integrate both systems at St. Thomas Mount station and the construction work is in progress. Though Chennai Metro Rail plans to launch the St. Thomas Mount station in about six months, it is not clear when the extension of MRTS service till St. Thomas Mount will take place.

The Hindu