CMRL takeover of MRTS: T.N. govt continues to await approval of MoU

The Tamil Nadu government continues to wait for the approval of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) from the Railway Board for two months now with regard to the Chennai Metro Rail Limited’s (CMRL) takeover of the Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS). The takeover was mooted many years back to revamp the MRTS and enhance passenger experience among other reasons.

A year has passed since the Railway Board accorded in-principle approval for handing over the assets, operation and maintenance of MRTS to the Tamil Nadu government. But till today, the takeover process is unable to take off as the MoU hasn’t been signed between the State government and the Southern Railway. Initially, it was expected that the approval may come by July end, but now, it is learnt that the approval for the MoU may take another four weeks, a source said.