The Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) between Velachery and Chennai Beach has acquired a fair bit of traction among commuters in less than a decade. Yet, the elevated train service remains crowded only during peak hours.
While the Southern Railway operates the second highest number of suburban train services in the city and has extended them to Avadi and Tiruvallur, poor patronage continues to plague some of the railway stations.
Poor accessibility, inadequate security and absence of last-mile connectivity are some of the issues turning away patrons.
Some stations including Perungudi, Taramani, Indira Nagar, Kotturpuram and Greenways Road are located in thickly populated, residential neighbourhoods but have poor patronage. In some cases, the lack of a parking lot itself makes MRTS a less convenient mode of travel.
Take, for instance, the Taramani railway station. Located next to the Rajiv Gandhi Salai, with a number of information technology companies in its vicinity, it has still not been able to attract commuters, largely because of lack of connectivity and poor parking infrastructure.
M. Thirugnanam, a resident of Pillayar Street in Taramani, said commuters wanting to park their vehicles are forced to walk a long distance from the parking lot to the railway station. The distance has made a mockery of the hop-on and hop-off travel concept.
He questioned the railway authorities for allowing autos to be parked at the entrance to the station building even while making the regular train commuters walk a long way to catch the trains. He wanted the authorities to shift the parking lot inside the station, like in Chintadripet.
Commuters also find the absence of any public transport facility from Taramani station to the IT corridor via MGR Salai a big drawback. Those using the Kotturpuram and Greenways Road stations blamed the lack of bus connectivity from the stations for the poor patronage.
A senior official of the Transport Department said the issues of last-mile connectivity would be discussed at the CUMTA meeting and steps taken to provide small bus services to meet the requirements.
Adyar residents said the non-availability of any parking space on the Canal Bank Road side of Indira Nagar railway station led to Kasturba Nagar railway station being preferred.
A senior official of the Smart City Project said the cycle-sharing project ‘Smart Bike’ has been launched at the Indira Nagar and Thiruvanmiyur stations. Also, talks are being held with a few big IT parks on MGR Salai to provide cycle-sharing facilities for commuters from Taramani station.
As they are on the perimeter of the Pallikaranai marshland, residents find it difficult to access the Perungudi and Taramani stations. To mitigate this issue, the railway administration planned a service road linking the three railway stations from Velachery to Taramani. Though the authorities have completed the service road, the project remains incomplete due to delay in construction of a culvert near the Velachery station. A senior Southern Railway official said work on the culvert had begun and would be completed by March.
