MRTS commuters bear the brunt of delay in the fourth line project

Southern Railway's delay in completing the fourth line project from Chennai Beach to Egmore causes commuter inconvenience and operational concerns.

It has been exactly a year since Southern Railway truncated the Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) services at Chintadripet to facilitate the laying of the fourth line from Chennai Beach to Egmore, causing inconvenience to thousands of commuters.

The fourth line is being laid at a cost of more than ₹243 crore. Once completed, the project will help to operate mail and express trains from Egmore and Tambaram and decongest the operations at Dr. MGR Chennai Central. Southern Railway had promised to complete the work within six months when the MRTS services were truncated at Chintadripet in August last year. But the work has been delayed inordinately, with no sign of completion in sight. The commuters have lost hope that the project will be completed before the year-end and the MRTS services will run from Velachery to Beach.

The truncation has caused severe inconvenience to the office-goers as well as the occasional commuters, especially those who want to board the long-distance trains at Chennai Central.

S. Krishnaraja, a resident of Perungudi, says commuters going to the Madras High Court, the Secretariat, and commercial establishments at Parry’s Corner are not able to reach their workplaces on time as the frequency of the MRTS services has been restricted to 20 minutes at peak hours and 30 minutes at non-peak hours. Previously, the services were available every 10 minutes at peak hours and 20 minutes at non-peak hours, he points out.

Many commuters are now getting down at Chintadripet and taking the crowded buses of the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC). The MTC has been running a special service (32C) from the Chintadripet railway station to Vallalar Nagar and another service to the Central.

B. Santosh, a regular commuter on the MRTS, says that while the MTC is operating special services, not many buses are available in the evening and night hours when thousands of commuters go home from work; they have to rush to the Central to take the suburban train services at the Moore Market Complex station.

Further, Chintadripet has not been designed as a suburban terminal. Hence, the station suffers from severe overcrowding, with poor toilets and access and inadequate last-mile connectivity to the Central and other destinations.