Just 400 metres of Chennai Metro Rail tunnel work between Thirumangalam and Egmore remains to be completed.
Tunnelling between Egmore and Shenoy Nagar is also at an advanced stage with one tunnel completed and the other nearing completion.
The tunnel boring machine is about 400 metres away from Nehru Park station, said a CMRL official. Work on laying the track from Egmore to Shenoy Nagar has started, he added.
Meanwhile, the 18th train set manufactured at Alstom factory in Sri City reached CMRL depot recently. This is the ninth train out of 33 to be delivered from Sri City in neighbouring Tada.
After preliminary checks, the train will be subjected to non-regression test and then it will be moved to test track for further testing and dynamic trails.
Chennai Metro, an equal joint venture between the Centre and the State government, is implementing the rail-based transport project with funding from Japan International Cooperation Agency.
The project, which is expected to ease road congestion in the city, will have two stretches totalling 45 km, linking important locations in the city, including North Chennai, Central Railway Station, Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminal at Koyambedu to the airport in the southern suburb of Chennai.
At present, various train trials are being conducted on the elevated structure between Koyambedu and Alandur. This stretch is likely to be opened for traffic soon.