For some suburban rail users, delays can last hours

The signal near Basin Bridge station is problematic, say commuters travelling to the city from western suburbs

The western corridor on the city’s suburban train network sees almost as many commuters as the southern route. However, commuters on this sector are not able to access the same seamless service as their counterparts on the Chennai Beach-Tambaram services.

Commuters proceeding from Tiruvallur, Pattabiram and Avadi who head towards the city during peak hours fear only one thing — of being stopped for hours as the train waits at the signal near Basin Bridge station. Though the station is the last one before MMC suburban station, trains wait for long intervals, sometimes even hours, to make way for long-distance trains.

T. Gunaseelan, a commuter from Ambattur, says that somehow or the other, trains from Tiruvallur to MMC get stuck at Basin Bridge junction at least once a fortnight, making him late for work.

Two weeks ago, irate commuters who had to wait for a long while, gheraoed the station master, he says.

A commuter from Tiruvallur, who works at the Southern Railway headquarters, says that despite Southern Railway quadrupling train tracks between Pattabiram and Tiruvallur in 2004, suburban train services are not operated on the dedicated tracks. This is one of the reasons suburban trains get stuck at signal delays.

S. Ramalingam, president, Rail Passengers Association, Pattabiram, says better coordination between the station masters of MMC, Chennai Central, Basin Bridge and Vyasarpadi Jeeva, would help in the timely operation of suburban trains. He wants suburban trains to be given preference over long-distance trains at least during peak hours, which is the case in other Metro cities.

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You no longer have to stand in serpentine queues or panic about the availability of bus tickets and plan visits accordingly. Now, a commuter can find out about the availability of seats and opt from a range of buses plying to different parts of the country, all at the click of a button.

It is not just the website of bus operators that get many hits. A number of online service providers too, are gaining a foothold in ticketing as more people find it a convenient choice. The most recent entry is the department of posts, which has joined hands with SRM Transports for online ticket booking at eight post offices in the Chennai City Region.

The service aims at helping not-so-tech-savvy customers to book tickets.

At least 60-70 per cent of passengers prefer to book tickets online.

On festive days and weekends, the number of online bookings climb to a whopping 90 per cent, says D. Maran, treasurer of the Tamil Nadu Omni Bus Owners Association. Earlier, only metropolitan cities like Hyderabad and Bangalore had a lot of online bookings. Now, almost every destination is offered for online reservation, he said.

State Express Transport Corporation buses too, have had a steady rise in online bookings over two years, with nearly 35 per cent of passengers reserving through their website.

Reporting by R. Srikanth and K. Lakshmi