Several thousand commuters alighting at Park Town (Mass Rapid Transit System) and Chennai Park (suburban) railway stations have a major complaint. For them, the trip from these stations to Moore Market Complex (MMC) station or Chennai Central station is fraught with difficulties and risks.
A majority of the people who alight at the MRTS station prefer to take the foot overbridge leading out of the southern end of the platform and walk on the pavements of Stanley Viaduct Bridge and wait at the signal on Poonamallee High Road.
Some years ago, Chennai Corporation created a pavement below the bridge and alongside Buckingham Canal for the convenience of passengers alighting from trains at both the MRTS and suburban stations.
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However, the pavement fell into disuse due to poor maintenance after male passengers began to use it as an open toilet, said traders opposite Chennai Central station.
The Corporation recently spruced up this pavement and re-opened it for use. The walls have received a fresh coat of paint and so have the pillars below the Stanley Viaduct Bridge. A wire mesh fence separating the pavement from the Buckingham Canal has been fixed and LED lights have been installed.
Staff belonging to a private security agency have been deployed to prevent miscreants from indulging in petty crimes.
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The walls have images of deities along with messages appealing to commuters to maintain the pavement clean and free of litter and to also refrain from using the pavement as a toilet.
However, R.S. Moorthy, a 65-year-old cook who works at a restaurant in Perungalathur, said: “We prefer using the foot overbridge as reaching the pavement is a tedious task.” To reach the Stanley Viaduct Bridge, commuters like Mr. Moorthy need to climb 42 steps. But to reach the spruced-up pavement at Park Town station they need to climb up and down 72 steps on the subway.
With over 10,000 people crossing Poonamallee High Road at the Central Station signal every hour during rush hour, traffic policemen said they found it increasingly difficult to manage vehicular traffic and pedestrians.
About 35,000 passengers use Park Town (MRTS) station everyday and 4.5 lakh passengers use the Chennai Park (suburban) station.
The existing subway across the road near the GH was not adequate to handle the crowd, they said.
Abhishek Shah of Madhya Pradesh, who is working in the city, suggested that the Southern Railway and Corporation should ensure that the pavement was well-maintained and that people who dirtied the place should be fined a huge amount instantly.
Passageway spruced up at Park Town and Chennai Park stations, but commuters prefer overbridge