Egmore ; Egmore railway station gets more passenger friendly

Four escalators, digital announcement boards and wi-fi soon

Egmore railway station is one place city residents dread boarding a train from, due to the lack of digital announcement boards and the difficulty in accessing platforms.

But all that is set to change soon as, in the coming months, the station will be spruced up.

Every day, Egmore station caters to over 2.5 lakh passengers travelling by 38 pairs of express trains and over 100 suburban trains. But it does not have enough commuter amenities.

Soon, the station will get four more escalators, two lifts, four big digital boards, coach information boards and wi-fi facility.

“All theses facilities will be introduced in a phased manner,” said a senior Railway official.

At present, escalators are present on platforms 4 and 5. But passengers, especially senior citizens, still have to climb stairs to reach other platforms,” said the official.

The wi-fi facility is expected to be inaugurated in a few days.

Digital announcement boards that display information on trains will also be installed in different parts of the station.

“Two boards have already been put up on platform 4 leading to the portico. Two more will be placed outside the station so people on the road too can see train timings,” said the official.

Smaller digital boards will be placed near the ticket counter and passenger waiting area. “Earlier passengers had to run about to find which platform their train would arrive on. These boards make life easy,” said K. Manjunatha, a passenger who was at the station to board a Madurai-bound train.

Coach position information boards will also be installed. “Passengers will not have to rely on porters for such information,” the official said.

Some commuters, however, are sceptical of the maintenance of such facilities. “MRTS, for instance, is a perfect example of the Railway’s negligence,” said B. Somnath, a senior citizen from Sowcarpet who is a regular train commuter.

H November 5,2014