In Chennai, the second stretch of the Metro rail service has been inaugurated by Tamil Nadu chief minister J.Jayalalithaa in presence of Union Urban Development and Information & Broadcasting Minister Venkaiah Naidu. The 8.6 kilometer long service connecting Chennai Airport with Little Mount comprising six stations is the second stretch to be commissioned in the 45 km long Phase-One of the Metro rail project in the city. Ms Jayalalithaa while flagging off from the Secretariat through video conferencing said the Alandur to Saint Thomas Mount stretch would also be thrown open for passenger service soon, after obtaining clearance from the Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety.<br/><br/>Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu while flagging off the services from the Chennai Airport said, in major cities across the nation, metro trains are operational in 324 kilometers. He informed that works are going on in another 520 km long routes and an additional 553 km route is being actively considered. He informed that a total of Ten Thousand Crore Rupees has been released by the Union Government for the Chennai Metro project so far. <br/><br/><br/>The newly commissioned metro rail service is set to provide direct connectivity to Chennai Airport from the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus at Koyambedu on the one hand and Little Mount on the other, without the hassles of the dense road traffic. It is expected to reduce the vehicular load on the congested roads considerably. Almost all the elevated stretches have been made operational with the inauguration of today's service. The Koyambedu-Alandur 10 km long route is already operational since July last year. Works on the underground stretches after many initial hurdles have now gathered steam and it is expected that the whole of the 45-km long metro project Phase-I would be made operational by the end of next year, changing the face of the city with modern transport amenities.