Chennai: The first of the four pedestrian subways planned by Chennai Metro Rail Limited near Chennai Central will be opened for the public next month. The 8.9 m wide subway connecting Park suburban station with Moore Market Complex (MMC) at Poonamallee High Road, built as part of Central Square, will have several facilities including escalators and elevators. It will replace the existing temporary foot overbridge and will take a significant number of pedestrians off the busy junction. Another subway of the same width that will give access to Central Railway Station from the bridge opposite is expected to be ready by the end of 2017."The interior work in the subway near MMC is nearing completion. We are planning to open it by the second week of April. The other subway is likely to be ready by the end of this year," said a metrorail official. Once the first subway is opened, the temporary iron foot overbridge that is now giving access to MMC from Park station will be dismantled.Two more subways will be constructed by the company that will take up the contract to build Central Square. Officials said they will invite tenders soon after the byelection is over. One of them will be a 14m wide subway between Central railway station and Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital while the other will link the hospital with Flower Bazaar road. All the four subways will have solar panels installed on the roof at the entry points. Electricity generated from these panels will be used to power lighting facilities in the subways. There will also be several other facilities including escalators and elevators.An official said that once all the four subways are opened, the existing one near Central Railway Station will be closed.Central Square planned on the lines of Madison Square Garden in New York is aimed at taking pedestrians underground and easing congestion on the road. It will be a hub for multi-modal transport as well as a hangout spot. "Central Square will be a major landmark in the city. We are hoping to get it ready by next year when the Central metro will be fully operational," an official said.Construction work is also simultaneously going on at Central metro station, which will be a transit hub. Corridor 2 that will connect Central metro station to St Thomas Mount via Koyambedu is planned to be commissioned by the end of this year, while Corridor 1 linking far flung areas of North Chennai to the southern parts of the city is expected to be ready by mid-2018.

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