Escalators are badly needed at platforms 5, 6, 7 and 8 of the Tambaram railway station.
Senior citizen S. Mohammed underlines the difficulty of climbing up the staircases of the foot overbridge.
“I am 75. A few weeks ago, I had to board a train to Madurai from the terminal and it was tough to ascend the steps with luggage in one hand,” says Mohammed.
The Southern Railways has constructed escalators in platforms 1A, 1, 2, 3 and 4. That benefits passengers boarding trains towards Chennai Beach, Chengalpattu, Thirumalpur, Kancheepuram and Melmaruvathur.
Battery-operated vehicles
Passengers have been demanding a host of other amenities. They want more battery operated vehicles at the platforms to help people with heavy baggage get to their coach positions. At present, only one vehicle is operated for platforms 7 and 8.
Further, the passenger information boards at Tambaram railway station have not been working properly for months. The five display boards are out of order most of the time. People have to listen keenly to the announcements made on the public address systems, as it is sometimes not audible enough.
All this affects the free movement of people on the foot overbridge, which is the only access point for pedestrians to reach East Tambaram from West Tambaram.
“Apart from displaying the arrival and departure of electrical multiple units and trains, it can also be used to display coach positions for long-distance train passengers,” says L. Sundararaman, senior citizen and resident of Chitlapakkam.
