more-in Chennai Metro Rail will soon carry out soil tests for the tunnel to connect the satellite terminal of Chennai airport. Officials of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) said that they held discussions recently on how to implement this facility. “They will choose a few sites on the air-side (where aircraft are stationed, land and depart) of the airport for the soil test. The next course of action will be decided later,” an official said. The satellite terminal is crucial as the air and passenger traffic of the airport has been growing steadily. This is likely to be located between the main and the secondary runway and close to the remote parking bays. The 1.5-km-long tunnel will link the new terminals of the airport with the satellite terminal so that passengers can complete the check-in procedures and reach the satellite terminal for boarding the aircraft. Officials had noted there will be two tunnels running underneath at a depth of 10.5 feet — while one will be used by passengers, the other will be used to transport baggage. Project cost While the project cost is nearly ?700 crore, Chennai Metro Rail said, the tunnelling alone is likely to cost ?500 crore. AAI began mulling over a satellite terminal nearly a year back because officials said the airport has become very congested handling 400 aircraft movements and at least 30,000 passengers everyday. Since there has been no progress with respect to the second airport for the city, officials said, having this satellite terminal will help in handling the congestion when the new terminals also get saturated. So, as soon as the new terminals are constructed, they will focus on finishing the construction of the satellite terminal.

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