Rail Budget: 18 new services delight suburban commuters

CHENNAI: Never once in his 15 years as a train commuter has 33-year-old U Shyam Sundar missed a suburban train from Minjur station, 30km north of Chennai. But the struggle to get into a train, he says, has become harder over the years because of an increasing number of commuters. The announcement of 18 more suburban trains in Wednesday’s railway budget has made tens of thousands of commuters like Sundar happy.
That the budget also proposed 13 new trains, including four passenger trains, besides extending six and increasing the frequency of four, bodes well for the state.
Passengers are not much worried that the suburban tickets will cost more, say by 50 paise for a commute from Tambaram to Chennai Beach, but they do hope that the waiting time between trains will now come down. At present, the average waiting time is 10 minutes, with the shortest interval being two minutes and the longest 18. The average time may now come down to eight minutes, said a railway official, as each train will run four or five services a day.
The proposed trains would be operated between Chennai Beach-Tambaram, Chennai Beach-Chengalpet, Chennai Beach-Avadi, Chennai Beach-Tiruttani, Chennai Beach-Gummidipundi/Sullurupeta and Chennai Beach-Velachery.
After the Metropolitan Transport Corporation increased bus fares in November last, the number of suburban train commuters went up by one lakh. But the number of trains remained the same, leading to overcrowding especially in the morning and evening hours.
“Suburban trains remain the most sought after public transport for millions because commuters are sure to reach the destination on time. They are also cheaper,” said B Satyanarayanan, a resident of Pazhavanthangal.
But railway officials said more trains don’t change commuter comfort dramatically. “The increase in trains should be complemented by infrastructure, like extra platforms,” said an official.
Platforms 3 and 4 at Tambaram have remained half built due to paucity of funds. As a result, the station receives all suburban trains (246 services a day, including to Chengalpet and Tirumalpur) on platforms 1 and 2. This results in congestion and also delay as trains have to wait for the signal.
Commuters also wanted more automatic ticket vending machines to be set up and the existing machines be repaired.
An official said suburban stations needed additional 40 counters and 200 employees to cater to the rising number of commuters.
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