After Mambalam and Tambaram, it is now the turn of Vandalur and Guduvanchery stations to get a facelift in the coming months. The engineering division of Southern Railway, Chennai, has planned to plant 1,000 saplings in these two stations. The railway administration has tied up with the Tamil Nadu Forest Department for procuring these plants from the nursery.
With the facelift, the two stations will resemble Tambaram, where a long green patch with bunches of colourful flowers, greets those alighting from long-distance trains. Southern Railway has been seeking to develop green corners inside stations for a while now. Incidentally, most of these areas, where green spaces are being developed, were once dumping yards. Tambaram railway station is used by one lakh passengers every day.
The garden has two sections in Tambaram. One is between platforms five and six and the other, between six and seven. The gardens are fenced on the four sides with a little passage left open for watering the plants. The gardens are maintained by staff of the engineering division.
Railway officials have sought the cooperation of commuters in keeping the station premises and surroundings clean.
