According to the latest updates, the Commissioner of Railway Safety has extended the provisional authorisation for Chennai Metro Rail’s Porur to Vadapalani stretch by one month, after the earlier approval ran out on 31 October. The Hindu reports that trains will keep running at a maximum of 40 kmph in manual mode, and that CMRL must tell the CRS by the end of November that pending civil and signalling work is complete. Six stations on the stretch, Alapakkam, Karambakkam, Valasaravakkam, Alwarthirunagar, Saligramam Warehouse and Saligramam, are still under construction, with an earlier report in The Hindu putting their opening at March 2027, and signalling work is expected to take about five more months before driverless running. CMRL said on 31 October that services between Poonamallee and Vadapalani would continue as usual and dismissed social media claims that the authorisation had lapsed.
This is significant as the stretch is the only working section of Phase II so far, and any break in the safety approval would have stranded riders on the Poonamallee to Vadapalani corridor. A one-month extension with conditions also shows the CRS is keeping CMRL on a short leash while key safety systems are unfinished. The 40 kmph cap and manual driving mean journey times stay longer than the line was designed for.
We believe the CRS has struck a sensible balance, keeping a useful service running while refusing a long open-ended approval for an incomplete line. CMRL’s own record on this corridor, including earlier missed deadlines for the Arcot Road stations, suggests the end-November report will not show all work finished. We expect at least one more short extension of the authorisation in December 2026 rather than a full, unconditional approval. Confidence: medium.
This holds significance for our readers because services will run normally this week, so there is no need to change your travel plans. Allow a few extra minutes for the slower 40 kmph running between Porur and Vadapalani. Rely on CMRL’s official channels rather than forwarded messages if you see fresh claims about the line shutting down.
The Hindu, 1 November 2026, https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/crs-extends-authorisation-for-chennai-metro-rails-phase-ii-stretch/article71649157.ece
DT Next, 31 October 2026, https://www.dtnext.in/news/chennai/porur-vadapalani-metro-services-to-continue-cmrl
Dinamani, 31 October 2026, https://www.dinamani.com/tamilnadu/2026/Oct/31/poonamallee-vadapalani-metro-rail-service-will-operate-as-usual
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