The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Bidding adieu to the 75-year-old train service

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 30, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Bidding adieu to the 75-year-old train service

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, JUNE 29. Commuters in the Tambaram-Egmore section will give a moving and touching farewell to metre gauge Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) tomorrow, the last day of the EMU's 75-year-old service.

For Chennaiites, the MG EMU is not a mere train service but part of their lives. For many a resident, the EMU was the main transport system in the city. Their day was never complete without travelling in the EMU.

Be a student or an office-goer, he or she had no other alternative in those days except to depend on the `electric train' for commuting. Though the number of EMU services was not high, the services enabled people to reach their destinations in time. It was a preferred mode of travel especially by commuters from the southern suburbs despite limited capacity.

Alumni of Christian College, Loyola College, A.M. Jain College and Pachaiyappa's College fondly remember those days when they travelled by train to their colleges. Employees of several major banks, insurance companies, High Court advocates, Chennai Port Trust, leading oil companies would all take the Beach-Tambaram services for work and back home every day.

In those days, students found it hard to travel by buses, whose services were few and far. It was a pleasure to travel by EMUs. Moreover, travelling by the EMU was cheaper as a three months' concession season ticket for students would cost them only Rs. 3. Parents preferred admitting their wards to far away colleges such as Madras Christian College at Tambaram and the A.M. Jain College at Meenambakkam as their monthly travel expenses was always affordable.

One reason why T.Nagar replaced George Town as the main shopping centre for residents of Chennai as also the peri-urban areas was the location of the Mambalam station, which enabled easy access.

Though the metro bus operations reach out to every nook and corner of the city, MG EMU services continue to remain popular with the commuters. In the last 75 years, one could count the number of days that the services were disrupted for several hours.

The services became erratic after the introduction of more main line services till dedicated lines were provided for the EMUs.

But the increasing commuter traffic and the non-availability of rolling stock forced the railway authorities to go for gauge conversion. EMU services would definitely improve after the introduction of BG EMU services.

But the role played by MG EMUs will remain etched in the memory of the commuters.

Timings advanced

Due to gauge conversion work between Chennai Egmore and Tambaram, the arrival of the following trains at Egmore will be advanced from July 1.

Tuticorin - Egmore Pearl City Express (6704) will arrive at 7.15 a.m. as against 7.30 a.m., Kanyakumari - Egmore (6122) will arrive at 7.30 a.m. as against 7.50 a.m., Thiruvananthapuram - Egmore Ananthapuri Express (6124) at 8 a.m. instead of 8.35 a.m. and Erode Express (6608) at 7 a.m. as against 7.10 a.m.

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