Whither fourth terminal — Avadi, Tiruvallur or Villivakkam?

Slow progress in developing third and fourth terminals in Chennai's Southern Railway, commuters demand faster action for better facilities.

Since Southern Railway announced the development of the Tambaram station as the third terminal, the commuters in the western section, comprising Avadi, Tiruvallur, and Arakkonam, have been demanding the development of the fourth terminal.

When it comes to the development of terminals, Southern Railway seems to be moving at a snail’s pace even in the bullet train era as it is yet to begin work on the third terminal and still clueless about where the fourth terminal will come up after years of deliberations.

In the process of developing the third terminal at Tambaram, the Railway Board has proposed to develop a fourth terminal by accepting the request of the commuters from the western section.

For the present, Southern Railway has proposed to develop Villivakkam as the fourth terminal. It has begun a land survey near the railway station.

While the commuters of the western section are happy that some serious steps have been taken, they are disappointed that the terminal has not been developed at Avadi or Tiruvallur. Both Avadi and Tiruvallur are important stations: the first service was run from Royapuram to Walajah Road Junction through Tiruvallur on July 1, 1856.

K. Bhaskar, secretary, Thiruvallur Railway Passengers’ Association, points to the need for a terminal outside the city limits, like Tambaram. He says Tiruvallur would be the best place for locating the fourth terminal. The place has enough vacant land near the station and a natural terrain for evacuation of rainwater as the Cooum runs a short distance away, he says. One more advantage is that Tiruvallur district is planned to be made a transport hub, linked with the peripheral roads to Singaperumal Koil and Poonamallee.

The commuters point to the cramped access space on both sides of the Villivakkam station, served by narrow streets, and the problem of operating feeder bus services. In fact, the locality would witness traffic chaos. The establishment of the terminal would affect the suburban train services as the coaching yard would have to be set up in the Integral Coach Factory portion, and there would be a cross-movement if long-distance trains switch from the slow line to the fast line.