From April to August in 2019, suburban train network lost 95 lakhs commuters in Chennai
Posted on: 09/Sep/2019 9:58:15 AM
Most of us who use the suburban trains frequently in Chennai might feel that these trains are running full in the peak hours of time.
The truth is according to an official data the network had lost 95 lakhs commuters between April and August in 2019 when compared to the same period in the year 2018. Every day, the suburban network lost 60,000 passengers on an average.
The metro trains are preferred by the commuters especially on the Chennai Beach- Tambaram route as these metro stations were much cleaner plus metro trains are air-conditioned and faster than the suburban trains. Point is the route is largely parallel from Park station to airport though metro trains do not touch Mambalam, Nungambakkam and Kodambakkam that are commercial places. For track maintenance and for other safety purposes, southern railways have cancelled around 40% more suburban trains now when compared to 2018.
As per an official it is clear that in April suburban network lost 18 lakhs commuters and the monthly loss in the ridership trains has remained consistent. The point is exact section wise details were not available but the drop on the Chennai Beach-Tambaram route was around 15 lakhs. The official then added that this route runs parallel to the metro rail route Washermenpet to airport line.
It was later mentioned by a supervisor at the ticketing window on the section that the drop at some stations was as high as 15%. The important information collected is the change in the commuter choice has reflected in the allied services provided at the railway stations.
It is brought out that there has been a drop of around 20% in the number of two wheelers parked on their premises. This was as per few parking contractors. A contractor expressed his views and spoke about how metro rail have opened parking lots that were better paved and how the payment could be done by a card. When compared to 2018, the metro rail ridership has more than doubled between April and July 2019.
It was pointed out by an official that every day around 25000 to 30000 people have been shifting from suburban trains to metro trains and this is half of the commuters the suburban network has been losing.
According to retired railway official and metro rail consultant, Mr. Ramanathan, the suburban trains were low cost and had dedicated commuters. He threw light on how the railways should upgrade the signalling system and run trains at a frequency of 3 minutes in the peak hours. Information is presently the peak hour frequency on the Beach-Tambaram section is 7 minutes. As per Shreya Gadepalli, transport expert, it is clear that there has been very little improvement in the suburban services and the commuters have shifted to better services.
