Persons with disabilities find access to St. Thomas Mount station difficult

The Hindu

3 days ago

The St. Thomas Mount Railway station has undergone a makeover of sorts with an emphasis on improving passenger amenities. The initiative is part of the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme (ABSS) project.
The railway stations in the city that were constructed decades ago, and have since witnessed improvements in passenger amenities only in piecemeal, have undergone welcome changes, particularly with regard to the appearance of railway stations redeveloped and inaugurated under the ABSS. A total of 15 railway stations are under various stages of redevelopment under ABSS.
The redeveloped station has an air-conditioned ticket counter, foot overbridges (FOBs), escalators, shelters, paved parking facility and newly built public conveniences, making commuters wonder if the stations were competing with metro stations.
The redeveloped St. Thomas Mount railway station, which was inaugurated along with Sullurpetta by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 22, has, however, been a disappointment for persons with disabilities (PwDs). with regard to accessibility.
S. Jayalakshmi, a person with disability, using the Mount railway station, lamented that the newly constructed ticket counter was located at the entrance of the station on Medavakkam Main Road, and the FOB with escalator near Karikalan street, at a distance that PwDs and senior citizens find difficult to cover.
While the FOB had been linked to all the six platforms, the Metro, and the upcoming Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) stations, the escalators were, most of the time, not functioning, she said.
Vaishnavi Jayakumar, a member of the Freedom Movement Coalition (FMC), said the first redeveloped ABSS station remains inaccessible to PwDs because of various deficiencies.
She said the ramp to the ticket counter was paved with polished granite, rendering it unsafe, the platform height of suburban stations had not been increased, resulting in a huge gap, and the station lacked a designated parking space for PwDs.
She failure to construct a ramped FOB despite ample space availability, absence of lowered ticket counter, and paved parking would pose severe hardships to passengers with reduced mobility. Also there is nodesignated parking.
Ms. Jayakumar said that despite the FMC reaching out to the divisional railway manager in 2022 to ensure that stations were made accessible, neither was an accessibility consultant engaged, nor were detailed design drawings or plans shared.
The commuters also wanted shelters along with seats to be installed at platforms 4 and 5. where the air conditioned train is normally stopped.
A senior official of Southern Railway regarding the absence of escalators in certain platforms said a escalator connecting platforms 4 and 5 is being installed. An official of the Southern Railway said the redevelopment of the station is an evolving process and the complaints the accessibility would be addressed in the coming months.