Rain adds to passengers’ woes at Chennai Central station
Water-logging: No place for travellers to wait, keep their baggage
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2015-07-29 05:59 GMT
Chennai: The rain over the last few days have added to the woes of passengers at Chennai Central station.
With no waiting room operational at present and water-logging on platforms every evening, passengers have practically no place to keep their baggage and wait. The downpour every evening has been inundating the platforms and making the wait for trains more inconvenient.
The problem is compounded by the fact that the air conditioned (AC) waiting room has been closed since July 23, after the contract between the railways and the private party that operated the facility ended.
“My kids and I are finding difficult to find a space as we need to take a nap and freshen ourselves before boarding my train to Mangalore today evening. It is an urgent necessity that a waiting room should be in place here as most of the time due to the heavy passenger commute, people are forced to sit on the floor,” said S. Rajalakshmi, a bank employee travelling with her two daughters.
Elderly worst affected
The worst affected are the elderly, who complain that unavailability of space to take rest, finding a toilet at rush hours are the immediate needs that the central station officials need to be concerned about and find a way out.
Officials say that the problem will ease once a new 250-seater ordinary waiting room is opened next week. Also, the railways' commercial wing has planned to open a new AC waiting-hall with a seating capacity of over 300 seats. It will be opened on the station's first floor by September.