Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR) may develop into a metro rail hub in a few years with lines crisscrossing the main road at important intersections like Okkiam Thoraipakkam and Sholinganallur, allowing travellers to interchange trains on various lines to access ECR and other parts of the city. Metro rail authorities intend to connect East Coast Road (ECR) and Velachery with extension lines from either Okkiyam Thoraipakkam or Sholinganallur station, or both stations built as part of phase- 2, in addition to the line that will run along OMR.
If the state government decides to extend lines to ECR and Velachery, the design of the stations at Okkiyam Thoraipakkam and Sholinganallur will be changed to allow for the addition of platforms and tracks in the future. This means that in the future, it won't be necessary to connect ECR to the metro network by building a new line that soars above existing metro lines through OMR. To connect ECR with the rest of the city, it simply has to be connected to the existing stations at these two intersections.
Both of these stations are situated on significant OMR junctions in Phase 2. While Sholinganallur will serve as an interchange connecting corridor-3 with corridor-5 from Madhavaram Milk Colony to Sholinganallur, Okkiyam Thoraipakkam is a portion of corridor-3 from Madhavaram Milk Colony to Siruseri Sipcot. The concourse level of the stations will be constructed at an angle to allow for the future addition of additional platforms and the creation of integrated stations. It will resemble the foot overbridge that connects numerous platforms at Central or Egmore stations. According to a metro rail official, the modifications made to these stations are small and won't significantly raise project costs. We can create a T-junction by connecting ECR and Velachery to either Okkiyam Thoraipakkam or Sholinganallur, or both.
Passengers from Anna Nagar, Porur, Alandur, Madipakkam, Nungambakkam, Adyar, and Madhavaram can change corridors at Okkiyam Thoraipakkam or Sholinganallur to travel to East Coast Road after OMR becomes a metro rail hub. The construction of metro rail corridors over a flyover at Sholinganallur will be difficult, according to T Archunan, project director for CMRL. A similar design tweak is being made to phase-2 Koyembedu metro, which will be built above phase-1 station, to add platforms for a future extension line to Avadi.
