Nearly four years after the last metre gauge (MG) service from Tambaram was stopped, work on removing the track has begun.
The gauge conversion scheme of Southern Railway began in 1998-99. Broad gauge (BG) suburban EMUs started replacing MG services, which were started between Chennai Beach and Tambaram in 1931 and later extended to Chengalpattu. The last of the MG EMU till Tambaram was operated in mid-2004.
There are four BG lines between Beach and Tambaram – two for suburban and two more for long distance trains, but only two between Tambaram and Chengalpattu. There was only one MG line on which passenger services till Tiruvannamalai and Villupuram were operated and they too were stopped in June 2007.
Commuters had been looking forward to the replacement of the unused line with a BG line. After years of wait, work on removing the idle MG line has begun.
Staff and workers engaged by Southern Railway have started removing the tracks and sleepers at many places between Tambaram and Chengalpattu.
The work is being executed by the construction wing of Southern Railway, an engineer said. The work would be completed in a couple of months, he added.
On completion, there would be three BG lines between Tambaram and Chengalpattu and Southern Railway would be able to operate long distance express trains and suburban trains simultaneously even during rush hour.
Gauge conversion between Vellore and Villupuram has also been completed, making it possible for Tiruvannamalai to be connected again with Chennai Beach, Egmore and Tambaram.
Currently, EMU services are operated mostly from platforms 1 and 2 of the Tambaram station. In the past, platforms 3 and 4 were used for MG express trains and mails. Due to delay in upgrading these two platforms, suburban trains to Chengalpattu used to halt at platforms between 6 and 9, mostly used by BG express trains.
Work on upgrading platforms 3 and 4 is nearing completion.
During the morning and evening rush hour, all platforms at the Tambaram station are occupied resulting in the incoming EMUs getting detained near the Tambaram Sanatorium station for long periods, much to the inconvenience of commuters. All these would soon be a thing of the past, the engineers said.
Commuters welcomed the move to replace the unused MG track with BG line and said that once completed several lakh people would be able to reach the city faster.
R.A. Mukunthan, Treasurer of Paranur – Perungalathur Rail Commuters Association, said people could travel comfortably to the temple town of Tiruvannamalai and also hoped that more fast locals would be introduced.
