Residents of T. Nagar fear a tragedy like what happened at the Elphinstone railway station in Mumbai which claimed more than 20 lives. The stampede at the station on September 29 should come as a wake-up call to the Southern Railway to widen the foot overbridge at the Mambalam railway station. The structure has also been encroached upon by hawkers.
The Mambalam station is one of the busiest in the city as it serves as a link to shoppers thronging T. Nagar. Thousands use the suburban train services to reach the busy Ranganathan Street.
Jayaraman, office-bearer of the T. Nagar Residents Welfare Association, said a tragedy is waiting to happen as thousands use the foot overbridge to reach Ranganathan Street. He wanted the Southern Railway to either extend the overbridge or construct a new one.
The Chennai Beach-Tambaram section, on an average, caters for around 10 lakh commuters a day.
S. Rajan, who regularly commutes on the suburban train service from St. Thomas Mount station, said thefoot overbridge causes lot of hardships to commuters.
A senior official of the Southern Railway said as of now there were no plans to extend the foot overbridge. However, the Railway Protection Police and the Government Railway Police have been deployed to control the crowd and steps are being taken to keep the overbridge free from hawkers.