While Southern Railway has been making efforts to improve basic amenities at stations in the city, commuters travelling in electric multiple units on the Chengalpattu – Kancheepuram suburban sector say only thorny bushes, uneven floors and dry taps greet them.
While officials said that these stations witness low passenger traffic and poor earnings, commuters said such reasons should not lead to them being denied basic amenities.
On the southern line, suburban trains change directions at Chengalpattu junction and terminate at Tirumalpur, near Kancheepuram. There are eight trains on this route — six between Chengalpattu and Tirumalpur and two services terminating at Kancheepuram.
En route , the stations are Reddypalayam, Villiambakkam, Palur, Pazhayaseevaram, Wallajahbad and Nathapettai. Most of these stations are neglected with vegetation taking over most of the platforms.
“We take a circuitous route from Tirumalpur to Chennai via Chengalpattu as we cannot afford to take government buses. Unlike suburban stations in Chennai, stations on this route do not have enough facilities,” said B. Srinivasan, a young computer hardware engineer hailing from the temple town.
Commuters said that close to 5,000 people travelled on trains to Kancheepuram district and this included tourists, shoppers and government employees living in Chennai and the city suburbs.
“Platforms of the stations between Chengalpattu and Kancheepuram were under a huge canopy of shade when metre gauge trains were operated. After gauge conversion, station improvement had not been taken up,” said A. Nathan of Chengalpattu.
Railway sources said that as per norms, the administration did not have enough powers to sanction adequate funds for creating amenities on a par with suburban stations.
They said the railways administration allotted Rs. 5,000 to station masters every month. This amount had to be used by the station masters for maintaining a basic level of cleanliness, including chopping down of thorny bushes and dense vegetation, they said, adding they would ensure that at least the bushes were removed and the platforms were maintained well.
