The Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) is an elevated line of the suburban railway in Chennai, India. The line currently runs from Chennai Beach........

The Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) is an elevated line of the suburban railway in Chennai, India. The line currently runs from Chennai Beach to Velachery, covering a distance of 27 km with 17 stations. Like the rest of the suburban railway network, the MRTS is operated by the state-owned Southern Railway (SR), a zone of Indian RailwaysChennai, India's fourth-largest urban agglomeration, has a well-established Suburban Railway Network, which dates back to 1931, when services began on the metre-gauge line from Beach to Tambaram. Two more suburban services were begun in 1985 — Chennai Central to Arakkonam and Chennai Central to Gummidipoondi, both of which were broad-gauge services.

In the 1980s, the Government began planning for a new railway line inside the city. The Suburban Lines offered no connectivity to Central and South Madras (as Chennai was known then). Planning began in 1985 and construction was started in 1991 . The first phase was much delayed and finally opened in 1997. The section of the line encompassing the first three Stations — Beach, Fort and Park Town, is at grade; after Park Town it begins climbing. All the Stations after Park Town — Chintadripet, Chepauk, Tiruvallikeni, Lighthouse and Thirumaylai are elevated. The Line from Park Town to Thirumaylai follows the course of the Buckingham Canal, which runs parallel to the Coromandel Coast.

The second phase of the MRTS connects Thirumaylai to Velachery, a southern suburb. Till Perungudi station all the stations are elevated. One of the main stations in this stretch is Thiruvanmiyur Station, which is just across from Tidel Park. The elevated track between Thiruvanmiyur and Velachery was opened to public by the Tamilnadu Chief Minister Mr. M Karunanidhi on November 19, 2007.

Design
Each MRTS Station is designed by a different architect and is built to accommodate a full length EMU (Electric Multiple Unit) rake, possibly consisting of 9 cars. But currently, only 6-car rakes are run on the Line, as the traffic on the MRTS Line is considerably less than the 3 Suburban Lines, where 9-car rakes run daily. Though the headway is expected once the patronage increases steadily. The MRTS runs from Beach to Velachery in about 40 minutes (compared to 2 hours in peak hours for the same distance). The first train from Beach starts at 6.05 am and the last starts at 9:35 pm. In reverse the first train from Velachery starts at 6.50 am and runs till 9.15 pm. The trains run on the MRTS are 'normal' EMUs, and do not have automatic doors like a Metro Train. This is because the MRTS is considered to be an elevated extension of the Suburban Network and not a Metro System, as such. However, the MRTS can be considered a Metro, since it is elevated for the majority of its length, and its services are exclusive, i.e. no other trains run on the MRTS Line.