Chennai MRTS and Metro Rail have been merged by Indian Railways
Due to massive losses and a lack of cooperation between the two administrations the Southern Railway of Indian Railways (IR) has given its in-principle approval for a long-awaited merger proposal of the Chennai Mass Rapid Transit System with Chennai Metro Rail. Southern Railway (SR) has approved the transfer of MRTS to CMRL in principle.

Due to conflicts between the Tamil Nadu government and IR's Southern Railway (SR) overland acquisition to lay a new MRTS line between Beach and Park Stations the plan to integrate MRTS with Chennai Metro Rail Ltd (CMRL) was put on hold after 2018. That issue will not be connected to Metro's acquisition of MRTS. Every year MRTS has reported an operational loss of Rs 100 crore.