Metro Rail commuters flag need for more escalators, ticketing gates

Chennai Metro Rail commuters express dissatisfaction over lack of escalators and ticketing gates during peak hours.

At 5.30 p.m., Balaji, a 40-year-old regular commuter of Chennai Metro Rail, has to rush to the lift to board the train at Thousand Lights station. If he misses the first trip of the lift, he ends up walking down a long flight of stairs from the street-level to the concourse-level.

This is because there isn’t adequate number of escalators in this station and lifts are invariably packed during peak hours, he says.

“Not all the entry/exit points in Thousand Lights station have an escalator in both directions and this is not convenient. I would be panting and soaked in sweat. This is one of the biggest complaints I have in the Chennai Metro Rail system,” he says.

Similarly, in the Koyambedu Metro Rail station too, he faces this issue while hurrying to work.

Lack of sufficient escalators at a few of the stations have left many Chennai Metro Rail commuters unhappy. During the morning and evening peak hours, commuters have to scramble to enter the lift as it gets very crowded, they say.

The Chennai Metro Rail project has a reach of 54 km network, covering two corridors. One corridor is Washermanpet to Chennai airport and Chennai Central to St. Thomas Mount in the Phase I project. The other corridor is Washermanpet to Wimco Nagar in the Phase I extension project.

Most stations in the Phase I project have been built with four entry/exit points, but at some of the stations, not all entry/exit points are equipped with adequate escalators, especially when commuters have to go from the street-level or the ground-level to the concourse or ticketing levels.