The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Road-users block suburban rail traffic

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 03, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Road-users block suburban rail traffic

Special Correspondent

Protest closure of level crossing gates

— Photo: A. Muralitharan

Agitated: Motorists staging a protest near the Meenambakkam railway station on Monday.

TAMBARAM: Agitated over the closure of gates at the railway level crossing near the Meenambakkam railway station for a long time, road-users, mostly two-wheeler riders and drivers of other vehicles, staged a protest by blocking the movement of suburban electric trains on the Chennai Beach - Tambaram sector on Monday.

Problems began when gates were closed around 8.30 a.m.

With the subways at Thillaiganga Nagar, Pazhavanthangal and St.Thomas Mount — all in Alandur Municipal limits — were flooded, vehicles could not use these facilities. For most residents of Adambakkam, Pazhavanthangal, Nanganallur, Thillaiganga Nagar and Vaanuvampettai among other localities of the municipality, the three subways were the most important links to reach Grand Southern Trunk Road.

There are alternatives — a level crossing near Ponniamman Temple and a road over bridge linking M.K.N. Road and Chakrapani Street — through the completed bridge is yet to be formally opened, it is used by motorists.

But, for the thousands of motorists from Nanganallur and Pazhavanthangal areas, the level crossing (LC No. 18) near the Meenambakkam station is the only access to GST Road during monsoon when the other subways are flooded.

An adjacent level crossing (LC No. 19) had been closed as work on a subway was in progress.

On Monday, the gates were closed around 8.30 a.m. and opened only at 11.30 a.m., said C. Harikesh, a resident of Nanganallur 44th Street who was in his car during that period.

Frustrated at the gates not being opened, the road-users gathered on the railway tracks, blocking the movement of a few electric trains bound for Chennai Beach and Tambaram.

The few hundred protestors included women and they dispersed only after personnel of the Railway Protection Force and the Government Railway Police came to spot and pacified them. Enquiries with Southern Railway officials revealed that the gates could not be opened due to signal problems and a technical snag. Only after the gates were made operational, around 11.30 a.m., could the police clear the piled up traffic.

Officials of the Alandur Municipality said that they had deployed additional pumps to bale out water, adding the three flooded subways would be operational by Monday night itself.

Motorists in other areas of Chennai and its suburbs also faced problems due to rainwater stagnation and damaged roads.

A case in point is Taramani Link Road. Following the rain, the road was severely damaged and at several places only half the carriageway was usable.

Vehicular traffic on a portion of Velachery-Tambaram High Road at the junctions between Madipakkam Main Road and Pallavaram-Thoraipakkam Radial Road had been diverted since Friday.

Traffic bound for Velachery and the rest of the city must take a detour through Pallavaram-Thoraipakkam Radial Road, Rajiv Gandhi Salai and Taramani Link Road.

K. Naveenkumar, a resident of Medavakkam, said that the closing of this stretch meant more time spent on travel and starting early from home.

Those coming from Pallikaranai, Jalladampet, Medavakkam and Sithalapakkam and bound for Velachery using the Metropolitan Transport Corporation buses too had to endure longer travel time as a number of buses passing through Velachery are taking the detour.

A new culvert was under construction at Velachery-Tambaram Main Road to channel the rainwater coming from Madipakkam into the Pallikaranai marshland. Residents here complained about the slow pace of construction work and the lack of alternative arrangement to drain the rainwater now flooding the arterial road and residential colonies nearby.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu