The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Suburban train commuters feel services are yet to be fully on track

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Saturday, May 31, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Suburban train commuters feel services are yet to be fully on track

Vidya Venkat

With mail express trains cutting across lines, some services are delayed

— Photo: M.Karunakaran

Non-stop rush: A scene at the suburban terminal of Chennai Central Railway Station.

CHENNAI: It is 6:30 in the evening. Platform No. 13 at the Moore Market complex, Chennai Central, is packed with passengers. They crane their necks out every minute to see if a train is coming.

Ten minutes later, an EMU train to Arakkonam pulls into the platform. Within minutes, the train gets choked with people. For passengers along the Chennai-Arakkonam railway section, this experience is an everyday affair. Passengers complained that EMU trains in this section often run late, do not halt at important stations, are irregular and congested. Despite this, they use the services as the bus services are not dependable.

S. Shanti, a resident of Avadi, says the EMU train gets held up at the Basin Bridge junction for almost half an hour and she reaches home late daily.

The junction is a major traffic bottleneck.

L. Subhashini, another passenger, says there are several trains that go without stopping at Perambur Loco Works. So she has to wait for the particular train which would stop at the station.

Absence of platforms for fast local trains at important stations such as Avadi and Pattabiram results in five pairs of services on the Chennai-Tiruttani, Chennai-Thiruvallur and Chennai-Arakkonam skip the stations.

Consumer rights activist and resident of Pattabiram T. Sadagopan said he had sought information under the RTI Act from Southern Railway on why train services on the section do not match the Chennai Beach-Tambaram EMU train services.

In 2004, a fourth track was laid between Pattabiram and Tiruvallur, but local trains to Avadi are yet to be extended till Tiruvallur, he added.

He says residents of Tiruvallur and nearby areas travelling by train to Bangalore or Mumbai must come to the Central Station. Providing a terminal at Tiruvallur for mail express trains could considerably reduce passenger load in suburban trains, he said.

Sriperumbudur Member of Parliament and resident of Pattabiram A. Krishna Swamy highlighted these issues in a letter to Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad in March 2007.

Tiruvallur, a district headquarters, suburban terminal and industrial centre, and Avadi, a defence base, have been neglected, he said.

Adding to the woes of the commuters is the delay in the suburban services as a result of mail express trains cutting across the railway lines in this section.

An instance of this: between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. an express train to Tirupati is run on the suburban railway line, because of which rush-hour suburban trains get held up. Another important reason why trains get delayed is that Avadi and Ambattur have loop lines on which drivers have to slow down the speed before entering the stations.

Railway authorities say they are aware of the problem as they are receiving regular complaints from passengers in this section. They admit that unless the tracks meant for suburban trains are “dedicated” many of the issues cannot be resolved. They added that with the limited resources available, it was not possible to satisfy all commuters.

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