The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Commuter comfort yet to be fully on the rails

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Tuesday, Feb 05, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Commuter comfort yet to be fully on the rails

R. Srikanth and Krishna Velupillai

The MRTS provides the facility connecting south to north in the city; yet drawbacks remain

— PHoto: N. Sridharan

PATRONAGE, NO DOUBT: A crowd of commuters at the Thiruvanmiyur MRTS Station.

CHENNAI: The Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) was conceived as a means to transform the speed and quality of travel for commuters in Chennai. They had long been deprived of an efficient transport facility connecting the southern suburbs to the north and the MRTS promised to give that.

In its final form, the MRTS cuts through some congested residential localities. It has been built at the cost of more than Rs.1,000 crore and in all, has taken more than 36 years to complete. The MRTS is now actually a travel option. Yet, numerous drawbacks hamper the smooth operation of the facility.

Commuters have many concerns about the service, ranging from ticketing, timing, station infrastructure inadequacies, incomplete approach roads to safety in some stations. “Even though more than two months have passed since the inauguration of the MRTS service at the Velachery Railway Station, there is no return ticket facility to any destination available at the station,” says A Padmanabhan, a commuter.

R.K. Prabhu, another commuter from Velachery, said Southern Railway had invested several hundred crores of rupees but was not making available train services during late hours. He points out that while the first service from Velachery at 6.50 a.m. is too late, the last service from Beach at 8.30 p.m. is pointless because a lot of activity takes place, even later and people need train services from Beach extended till 9.30 p.m. or beyond. Train services at Velachery should start at 5.30 a.m.

Lack of facilities and poor maintenance

Despite the increase in patronage after the extension of the services, the maintenance of stations remains dismal. New infrastructure is yet to come up, while even basic facilities currently available are sometimes inaccessible. The stations are poorly maintained and ill-lit; even the newer stations look gloomy and uninviting. In some stations such as Chintadripet, there is no indication of even the existence of a rail station because there are few lights on the approaches and the station sign remains in disuse. The gates of the station lie rusted and ruined; inside, information signs have faded, confusing travellers; escalators and lifts are switched on an hour before the last train passes through.

Inadequate lighting facilities tend to put off women who question the safety of the buildings after dusk.

K. Malathi, a frequent user of the MRTS, says that she prefers the MRTS to buses because the trains are much less congested and thus free from the threat of harassment that women face in buses. However, she admits that the stations can become quite daunting after dark. Ms. Malathi says that she does not feel safe in the compound. Other important facilities such as toilets and drinking water, timetables and maps are either absent or rudimentary, a far cry from international mass rapid transit best practice.

The MRTS, conceived on an elevated corridor, requires commuters to move up to the platform. Escalators and lifts for quick movement to and from the platforms become necessary. The railway has provided escalators in the upward direction and lifts in the stations, but often, both do not work.

Commuters also want Southern Railway to develop Triplicane and Light House which trace their vintage to the older Phase I line upto Tirumailai. The ground floor of these stations is occupied, most of the time, by slum-dwellers and vagrants.

Parking fees disparity

The MRTS fares poorly in providing parking facilities which meet the globally accepted norm of ‘Park and Ride’. The Velachery Railway Station is the only one that offers adequate parking facilities for both two-wheelers and cars. But the parking charges act as a deterrent — Rs. 4 for two-wheeler parking and Rs. 10 for cars for four hours. (Even in privately-maintained parking facilities, on the Tambaram-Beach sector, the parking charge for two-wheelers is Rs. 3.) In other railway stations, though space is allocated, the commuters park vehicles at their own risk. In addition, the parking space at Thiruvanmiyur and Kasturiba stations gets flooded even at the slightest drizzle.

Inter-modal transport

The National Urban Transport Policy 2006 of the Centre envisages that investments in public transport ensure the systems are well integrated and allow for switch from one mode of travel to the other. In practice, commuters encounter a lack of complementary bus services connecting stations. Travel shift is also not possible with existing linkages between rail and bus services.

When contacted, Metropolitan Transport Corporation Managing Director M. Ramasubramaniam said he did not see it as the responsibility of the MTC to provide complementary services for the MRTS that comes under Southern Railway.

The Union Ministry of Urban Development has been pursuing the formation of a Unified Mass Transit Authority to ensure a coordinated mechanism for transport at the State-level, as envisaged in the NUT Policy. Under the policy, urban transport will be an integral part of urban planning.

Transport Minister K.N. Nehru said that the first meeting regarding the setting up of such a nodal department for a unified urban transport system would be held this month. The meeting would decide on the practicalities of bringing the MTC and the MRTS services under a joint authority.

Despite drawbacks and weak responses to the need for solving problems, commuters patronise the MRTS. It is part of a railway system that awaits modernisation, particularly in the antiquated stations on older suburban lines, in ticketing systems and in feeder and bus links. At the moment, without a logo, the MRTS is faceless, and without a map, just another line in a large but unfriendly suburban train system.

A single rail ticket is all that a commuter needs to travel long distances, often changing from one line to the other, but such information remains elusive to the tourist, the newcomer and the casual traveller.

Pass fares on MRTS from Velachery

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