Study faults railway facilities

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Gone are the days when people wrote petitions to draw the attention of authorities. A city-based civic group involved in addressing rail and road passengers’ grievances has conducted a survey that brings to light the appalling condition of railway stations in Chennai railway division.

In its survey conducted last week, Traffic and Transportation Forum (TTF) distributed questionnaires to 1,000 passengers in various suburban stations on the Beach-Tambaram route and asked for their feedback on the facilities available at the stations and the quality of service offered by railways.

The questionnaire sought to know passenger’s feedback on various aspects like issue of tickets, availability of proper seating arrangements, announcement and display boards available at station.

First among the list of 16 questions was the cleanliness aspect of the stations with a special focus on availability of drinking water, toilets, dustbins and cold drinking water at all the stations. Availability of lamps and fans were also assessed.

The respondents were asked to answer if the services were good, insufficient or needed improvement.

Passengers’ views were also sought on train timings, frequency and facilities for elderly people and the disabled, public information system, safety at stations, increasing the number of coaches in EMUs and running multiple units on the mainline.

TTF also invited respondents’ recommendations about new suburban train routes to be introduced besides their views on advertisements or billboards kept on the platforms.

Though the survey results are awaited, Mr Rama Rao, director of TTF, told Deccan Chronicle that most passengers complained about staircases being to uncomfortable, lack of lifts, proper lighting, toilet and drinking water facilities.

The respondents were also unhappy about a complete absence or dysfunctional CCTV cameras at the stations and automatic ticket vending machines.

Most respondents were supportive of increasing the frequency of EMUs besides more number of halts for express trains from the south beyond Tambaram.