The Chennai Metro is a rapid transit system in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. The Phase I of the project consisting of two corridors covering a length of 45.1 km is under construction. The elevated section of the project is scheduled to be operational by 2013 and the entire project is scheduled to be completed by the financial year 2014-2015. About 55% of the corridors in Phase I is underground and the remaining is elevated.

Chennai is the 4th largest metropolitan city in India. Chennai, often known as the Detroit of Asia, is widely known for its presence in the automotive industry and has attracted several global automakers to set up their factories in the city becoming one of the global leaders in the industry. Apart from automobiles, it also has development centres set up by many software companies which contributed 14% of India's total software exports of 144,214 crore (US$28.77 billion) during 2006–07, making it the second-largest exporter of software in the country, behind Bangalore. Based on all these industrial and technological advancements, urban population has risen rapidly, requiring need for faster and safer transportation at all times. The city already has multiple modes of transportation. A bus system is run by the Chennai MTC and is augmented by the Chennai suburban railway network run by the Southern Railway. In addition to this, the Southern Railway has also implemented the Chennai MRTS project; an elevated railway system was sanctioned in 1984 to ease congestion in central Chennai. However, traffic congestion was still a big problem for both the citizens as well as the City's governing body. Hence, the Chennai Corporation has decided to implement the Chennai Metro project which will be another alternate transportation mode to a metropolis like Chennai. Mr K.Rajaraman IAS, 1989 Batch Officer of Tamil Nadu cadre is the Managing Director of CMRL.

Chennai /ˈtʃɛnaɪ/, formerly Madras /məˈdræs/, is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal, it is a major commercial, cultural, and educational centre in South India, while the port of Chennai is the second largest port in India. As of the 2011 census, the city had 4.68 million residents making it the sixth most populous city in India; the urban agglomeration, which comprises the city and its suburbs, was home to approximately 8.9 million, making it the fourth most populous metropolitan area in the country.

Although the area has been part of successive South Indian kingdoms through centuries, the recorded history of the city began in the colonial times, specifically with the arrival of British East India Company and the establishment in 1644 of Fort St George, an English settlement. The British defended several attacks from the French colonial forces, and from the kingdom of Mysore, on Chennai's way to become a major naval port and presidency city by late eighteenth century. Following the independence of India, Chennai became the capital of Tamil Nadu and a hotbed of regional politics that tended to bank on Dravidian identity of the populace. Chennai had become a bustling metropolis with beautiful classical and colonial European styled buildings, lining the city’s thoroughfares.