Jam-packed parking lot at railway station a nightmare for users

COIMBATORE: S Samuel, who was trying to park his two-wheeler at the parking lot at the Coimbatore Railway Junction on Tuesday, was shocked to find rows and rows of vehicles jam-packed at the facility.
The parking lot attendants were dragging vehicles carelessly around to shift them within the lot, he said. “I was lucky that my vehicle was parked in the third row from the front. When a man, who had parked his vehicle somewhere inside, asked the attendants to help him get his vehicle, they replied rudely. They said it would take about half-an-hour to take his vehicle out of the mess,” Samuel told TOI.

A visit to the parking lot proved him right. Vehicles were stacked so close that to take out one from an inside row, 10 others had to be removed. The aisle space between the two rows were also filled with vehicles. Users, who had to take a vehicle from the inside rows, couldn’t do so without the help of the attendants.

An attendant there said, “Ideally, the aisle space should be clear to facilitate free movement of vehicles. If those are free, people could take out their vehicles by themselves without our help. But, due to lack of space, we have to park vehicles there also.”

The supervisor at the parking lot said the facility can accommodate only about 400 vehicles. “But, we have to accommodate 500 to 600 vehicles. When passengers, who have to take long-distance trains come here looking for a parking space, we can’t turn them down. We try to accommodate their vehicles in the little space we have,” he said.

When asked about the damage done to vehicles when attendants move them around, the supervisor said, in some cases they had paid for repair. “But, in several cases, when people, who come to take their vehicles at odd hours, complain about a broken mirror or an indicator, we can’t do much,” he said.

A sign at the parking lot states the contractor wouldn’t be responsible for any damage to the vehicles. The supervisor added that the parking lot was in need of proper flooring, without which vehicles can’t be arranged in neat rows.

Officials at the railway station said that while they were aware of the issues, they were burdened with space constraint. “A multi-level parking lot near the station’s back gate is in the offing. We hope once that is operational, parking problems would be solved,” an official said.