North Chennai, with its burgeoning working class population that depends heavily on public transport, is feeling the pinch of being under-served by successive governments.
For decades, people of the area have been articulating their disappointment over the state of public transport. Whether bus or suburban train services, north Chennai has remained backward despite having the most number of industrial zones in the city, they argue
The north Chennai route, one of the oldest in the city, has the lowest number of suburban train services among the four routes. Even the Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) between Chennai Beach and Velachery, which was launched 20 years ago, has more trains than the suburban stretch to north Chennai.
J. Soosai Raj, a resident of Tiruvottiyur, said trains from the north section towards the Moore Market Complex (MMC) suburban station or Chennai Beach are operated at a gap of 30 minutes even during peak hour, whereas other sections have services every 10 minutes.
Beyond peak hour, trains are available at a 40-minute interval. Mr. Raj, who works as an advocate at the Madras High Court, complained that he had no option but to use his vehicle because of the poor suburban services.
A senior official of Southern Railway said a total of 74 services are being operated between MMC and Gummidipoondi/Sullurpetta whereas the MRTS stretch between Chennai Beach and Velachery, has more than 100 services.
He said the total number of services from MMC to Tiruvallur/Arakkonam is 151 and the number of services between Chennai Beach and Tambaram stands at 224, the highest.
The official said poor commuter patronage, particularly beyond Ponneri on the northern line, is the main factor in not increasing the number of trains. Similarly, with only two lines available, which also are used for running goods trains to the Chennai Port Trust (CPT) at Chennai Beach and the goods transit yard at Royapuram, operating suburban trains take a backseat.
Though the railway official claimed poor patronage was the reason for operating fewer trains, commuter data provided by Southern Railway shows the north Chennai section has better patronage than, say, for instance, the MRTS stretch. The total commuter patronage on the north section stands at around 1.2 lakh per day, while on the MRTS section, it is 1 lakh per day. The Chennai Beach-Tambaram route has the highest patronage of 5.6 lakh of the four suburban sections. The MMC/Chennai Beach-Tiruvallur section has a patronage of more than 4 lakh per day.
Track expansion work
The official said track expansion work to create the third and fourth lines at a cost of more than ₹275 crore is in progress. The official cited the commissioning of the third and fourth lines from Ennore to Tiruvottiyur and the inauguration of the fourth line by Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on June 24. He said that once the stretch was extended to Chennai Beach, the number of services could be increased.
