Commuters want shifting of north-bound suburban trains to ease operation of suburban trains from MMC to Beach railway station

The suburban commuters on the west section who have been complaining about delayed arrival and departure of the electrical multiple units (EMUs) want the officials of Southern Railway to explore the option of shifting the suburban train services of north section from Moore market complex (MMC) station to Beach railway station. A section of commuters as well as railway activists hope the shifting of at least a small portion to Beach station would provide seamless operation of EMUs for the west section. 

The west section of suburban network is the longest section of the four sections of suburban services operated by Chennai division with train services operated to as long as Thiruttani and Arakkonam. It also has the highest number of EMU services with nearly four lakh commuters travelling daily. 

The option to explore the viability of shifting the north-bound suburban trains comes in the wake of EMU services towards west section daily being delayed by a minimum of 20 to 30 minutes, that too during morning and evening peak hours. Also the absence of adequate platforms at the MMC and the operational delays caused by the cross over of the suburban trains from MMC to the slow line beyond Basin Bridge railway station – the point where mail and express trains also pass through. 

Social activist T. Sadagopan said a large number of suburban as well as mail and express trains originate from the Dr. MGR Central station. Moreover unlike the south section of Beach to Chengalpattu via Tambaram which has few operational issues, the west section has several crossovers of EMUs including Tiruvallur, Pattabhiram and Avadi. In this situation provision of a dedicated corridor for EMUs to Avadi, Tiruvallur and Arakkonam stations from MMC would pave way for seamless operation of suburban trains. 

Due to several crossovers, the Chennai division has given speed restrictions for loco drivers of EMUs to operate at 15 kilometres per hour instead of 30 kmph. 

Railway activist also point out that with the shifting of the operation of the north section to Beach railway station commuters would find it easy to access Tambaram- and Velachery-bound trains by switching just the platforms. 

S. Krishna, a regular commuter from Ponneri, said the Beach railway station is already a transport hub and by shifting the EMUs from MMC station to Beach station the commuters of north section would have better access to suburban trains. This would also help avoide the delays caused by north-bound suburban trains waiting to crossover from MMC, to mail and express trains at Basin bridge station.

A senior official of the Chennai division of Southern Railway said a feasibility study would be done on the suggestions for shifting the suburban trains to Beach station.