COMMENTS

As mentioned earlier unlike the services on the Beacg-Tambaram sector which sees a good crowd you can find even the Beach-Arakkonam EMU's less crowded for lack of frequency. Even worse even people who have to go to Perambur do not board this train at times. The MSB-TBM locals generally have a good freuqncy and hence the crowd.

With respect to the Velachery route the route first terminated at Mylapore which had good conenctivty with the route of 21G. Later it was extended to Tiruvanmiyur and passed close to the slum areas where people even today dont board the deluxe buses for the rate almost equal to the BMTC rates. Now on extention to Velachery it catered to the IT area the only reason for it being the IT crowd.

Even the authorities turned a blind eye to this service. When I went to Triplicane station to have a joy ride upto Beach there was a dull counter with a person issuing ticket. Escalator and lifts were not working and we had to climb up 2 floors to board teh train. The station was almost empty and so was the train. And I noticed new rakes running on the tambaram line whereas the one on the MRTS was poor.And the station building was used by slum dwellers and others as it was not put into use.

Extention to Tambaram is also not of much use. We already have 21G route of MTC in huge numbers passing through the same route and even volvoes running on the same.This bus pases through many stations of the MRTS without much use. Other buses which end at Triplicane and other stations stop quite a distance from the station. Only beach is close to Triplicane station and people from beach have to cross the road to take the train and without much fo frequency they take the bus.

All the above issues must be solved. However one plus point is the strech of Chennai metro passes through areas not having much traffic whereas Bangalore has huge traffic as the city has concentrated on the Centrical approach and city centre being the most jammed. So people will opt for metro here.

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 Thanks for these pictures Naveen.  The suburban rail section that you show pictures of (Beach-Tambaram) is service that is much, much older than the elevated trains (which is traditionally referred to as MRTS in Chennai, or colloquially as "parakkum rail" - the flying train).

I am pretty sure the Beach-Tambaram suburban service is very full, especially at peak hours.  The elevated train service has not been a big success is my understanding.  There are multiple reasons in my analysis (1) The route went along sections of town that have traditionally had excellent bus service and (2) The station locations are a bit poor since the choice was made to locate the route all along the Buckingham Canal.  So for example, the station that came up a short distance away from my former place of residence in Chennai is besides a busy intersection that is plop in the middle of a very residential area.  Most people getting off the train here would still have to take another bus to get to where they are going.  There are also other stations that are located far enough away from the sort of the main commercial throughfare and with poor bus interconnections that they tend to be inconvenient. (Convenient multi-modal interchange is so important)

So now it is a Chicken and egg problem.  The service is poor and stations are dingy and feel unsafe  because of poor patronage.  And there is poor patronage because of aforementioned reasons and poor conditions of the trains!

So, when I was in Chennai recently in the old neighborhood, I had three choices to get to Central station for my trip back to Bangalore. The bus - crowded and slower, but dirt cheap, auto - expensive, have to haggle and prove my city savvy but faster, and the MRTS - cheap and fastest travel time, but with a bad reputation and poor frequency.  I took the auto!

Like you said, a poor case of planning.  However, I still believe there is still hope for the MRTS.  Just needs some marketing savvy, inter agency cooperation, eventual connection to the regular suburban lines (which run right by the airport by the way).  The MRTS goes past a portion of Chennai's IT corridor also. Unfortunately, that change may never happen, I fear.

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Hi Sanjay,

Well, you are an "insider" as far as Chennai is concerned ! Good to have your perspective about Chennai MRTS, since I don't think there are any here that know the system, as users.

I had to go to Tambaram to meet someone - & hence, when I was told about this train, I opted it to see what it was like - & was pretty disappointed.

There were indications that it was seeing crowds - good no. of shops leading upto Tambaram station, parking lots full, extensions underway, etc. (also noticed similar activities at other stns that were closer to Chennai), but the trains during late morning & afternoon were both almost empty. I was told that trains on the other tracks see even less crowd !

needs some marketing savvy, inter agency cooperation, eventual connection to the regular suburban lines - I hope you begin to see why BMLTA is required:) Just Kidding.

I now feel that Bangalore is better placed for a CRS than Chennai since at least tracks pass close to or through some high density areas, though there are many barren stretches by the tracks here too.

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Thanks ss87 for yr inputs.

I think it's clear that the railways need professionals who can plan & run a system that at least recovers it's cost rather than "officials", particularly in well-off cities like Bangalore. Even Mumbai's suburban rail with it's jam-packed trains & low-cost, downright basic facilities have been incurring losses. So, all the more reason why railways need some serious introspection.

The very idea of a central entity (with it's many zones) controlling all the railway networks in the country is questionable - Chennai MRTS is but, one example.

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 Bangalore, during peak hours usage will be high. Travelling from East Bangalore to West Bangalore and vice versa during peak hours takes around 1 hour 30 minutes minimum and sometimes even 2 hours. A Metro would cover the same distance in 35 minutes as expected. Even though there will be last mile problems for Metro users, it will not consume as high as road travel.

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