Chennai Metro changes frequency of trains to cope with the surge in passenger traffic
The Hindu
On Wimco Nagar-Airport and Central-St. Thomas Mount stretches, there will be a train available every three minutes during peak hours of 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Chennai Metro Rail Ltd. (CMRL) has changed the frequency of trains in both corridors — Wimco Nagar to Airport and Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. M.G. Ramachandran Chennai Central to St. Thomas Mount. With this, there will be a train every three minutes on Washermenpet-Alandur route during peak hours (8 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.).
On the Wimco Nagar-Airport line, there will be a train every six minutes during the peak hours. The direct trains between Central and St. Thomas Mount and Central and Airport will be available every 12 minutes during the peak hours.
Prior to the new arrangement, commuters could get a train every five minutes between Wimco Nagar and Airport and every 10 minutes between Central and St. Thomas Mount and Central and Airport.
According to CMRL officials, it was decided to run a train every three minutes between Washermenpet and Alandur because a large number of passengers travel daily on this stretch which connects Thousand Lights, AG-DMS, Nandanam, Guindy and LIC. “There are numerous offices located along Anna Salai. When we looked at the passenger flow from the data, we noticed that thousands of office-goers travel to stations between Washermenpet and Alandur and the demand is very high. Hence, we decided to have a train every three minutes on this stretch,” an official said.
During non-peak hours (5 a.m. to 8 a.m., 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.), commuters will get a train every nine minutes between Wimco Nagar and Airport. Direct trains between Central and St. Thomas Mount and Central and Airport will be operated every 18 minutes during non-peak hours.
“We are doing this on a trial basis, owing to the increase in demand from passengers. We have to see how the systems like signalling, telecom and others function in the next few weeks with the increase in frequency,” another official said.
Chennai Metro Rail has been seeing nearly 2.50 lakh passengers on the weekdays on an average and the commuters had been demanding more trains.
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