Display boards at station fail to show the way

Some digital panels at Egmore do not work; others provide inaccurate information

up Faced with boards which, even when they work, display data that are either frozen or repeated, passengers rely on porters. Photo: R. Ragu

The Egmore railway station, after more than a century of servicing commuters, is yet to have a set of display boards that provide correct information about trains.

There are at least four places where these display boards should be working. As of now, only one works. The smaller ones do not display information about the long distance-trains, said R. Manju, who was travelling to Minjur.

While there are two giant display boards at the main entrance, there are smaller ones too on the platforms. “One of the bigger boards has been removed and kept aside for many months now. We don’t think it will start working again. The other does not prove any information on platform numbers,” said P. Jayakumar, a regular commuter to Nagercoil.

Even when the display board works, passengers say the information is rather frozen and often, data of the same trains get repeated. The information is quite misleading and passengers are forced to make a dash. Many passengers enquire either with the porters or officials at ticket counters, said Mr. Jayakumar. “Chennai Central is better equipped so many of us choose to board the train from there, even if reaching Egmore is easier,” he said.

Passengers feel the old railway station needs an effective train information display system that is equipped to handle information of the 35 long-distance trains it sees every day. More than 1.5 lakh passengers use the railway station that handles 118 suburban trains.

Also, nearly ten small TV screens are supposed to display the departure and arrival information. “But there is only one screen near the station master’s room that displays correct information but it is difficult to rush there all the time, especially when you know your train is on the other platform,” said R. Sukumaran, a commuter from Tambaram. “The audio quality sometimes is not good, especially when there is a heavy crowd,” he said.

Many of these display boards have not been functioning for the last many months, say people who work there. “For the last two months there was a rush of passengers and we would face hundreds of unreserved passengers every day. It is very difficult for them to run around as the display boards don’t provide platform numbers or even the train name,” said a railway official at the station.

The station will get more display boards in the coming days and a team was presently working on the electrical faults that were causing the problems, said Southern Railway officials.