Latest news with #M.SenthamilSelvan
The Hindu
31-07-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
Railway Board announces much-needed track expansion project on Chennai suburban rail's north section
The Railway Board has sanctioned the expansion of a third and fourth line from Athipattu to Gummidipoondi on the north section of the Chennai suburban railway. This project is expected to significantly boost freight revenue by accommodating increased freight traffic in the industrial belt and will also help a large workforce commute to their factories more efficiently. Senior railway officials said the Railway Board has sanctioned ₹374.30 crore for the expansion of a 47-km stretch between Athipattu and Gummidipoondi. This section, which falls under the Chennai-Gudur corridor of the northeast line, is expected to not only boost freight loading capacity by 8.71 million tonnes per annum but also facilitate faster movement of steel, foodgrains, petrochemicals, fertilisers, cement, and automobiles from factories located in both the southern and northern parts of Chennai. The expansion would also benefit suburban commuters as well as mail and express passengers, as the fourth line expansion from Egmore to Beach has created dedicated corridors for slow and fast trains. North Chennai residents to benefit Among the suburban train services operated by Southern Railway, residents of north Chennai are served by the fewest trains, despite the majority of the population living in economically disadvantaged conditions. The north Chennai localities of Tiruvottiyur, Manali, Minjur, and Gummidipoondi, are industrial hubs with several thermal power stations, petroleum refineries, and other major industries. They also house a large workforce catering to these industries. Industrial workers rely on public transport to reach their workplaces, but in practice, both suburban train and bus services are limited. Among the four suburban train corridors, the northern section, from Moore Market Complex to Gummidipoondi via Athipattu, has the fewest services, with just 90 trains, even fewer than the Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) operating between Beach and Velachery. Thousands of commuters in north Chennai have been demanding the expansion of the track network from Athipattu to Gummidipoondi, from the current two tracks to four, for several years, to enable more suburban train services comparable to those in the western and southern sections. The track expansion would also pave the way for increasing the speed on the Gudur section from the current 130 kmph to 160 kmph, said M. Senthamil Selvan, Chief Public Relations Officer of Southern Railway. Social activist S. Suresh Babu said the track expansion project would be a milestone for the residents of Gummidipoondi. Being one of the busiest train corridors, the route has long suffered from chronic commuter congestion, lack of punctuality, and inadequate rail infrastructure upgrades. The expansion would help decongest the existing tracks by allowing segregated operations for Electric Multiple Units (EMUs), express trains, and freight services. Moreover, officials said, it would give a major boost to regional industrial and economic activity. While residents of north Chennai are pleased with the track expansion project, they want the work to be completed within the announced two-year timeline. S. Muruganandham, a resident of Kavarapettai, said the project, covering seven railway stations, must be commissioned on schedule. He pointed out that such track expansion projects are often delayed, citing the long-pending Egmore-Beach fourth line, which took more than one and a half years to complete, despite being planned as a six-month project.
The Hindu
18-07-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
UTS mobile app gains traction among commuters for purchasing season passes and train tickets in the city
The Unreserved Ticketing system (UTS) has been gaining momentum among the suburban commuters for purchasing seasonal passes as well as train tickets in the city. The long queues of commuters waiting to purchase tickets in front of counters have been slowly decreasing, thereby removing the pressure on the railway officials to have additional ticket counters in several railway stations. The UTS launched by Centre for Railway Information System (CRIS) has made vast strides in digital purchasing of tickets without the need to wait at the counters, as the mobile ticketing sales through UTS has almost touched 15% in Chennai division. In the previous financial year the mobile ticketing sales had only 12.30% of the total tickets sold. M. Senthamil Selvan, Chief Public Relations Officer of Southern Railway, said the UTS app has come a long way since its launch, app with several improvements being made, particularly with regard to recharging of the wallet. In Chennai division the number of tickets issued through the mobile app stands at 16 lakh for the month of June against a total of 1.12 crore train tickets sold. Whereas the average sales of mobile tickets last year stood at only 13 lakh against the monthly total sales of 1.08 crore. The UTS is not only used for purchasing suburban train tickets and seasonal passes but also unreserved tickets for travelling in mail and express trains. The Southern Railway through the promotion of UTS and the installation of the automatic ticket vending machines (ATVMs) in several railway stations including Mambalam, Ambattur, Guindy, Beach, Moore Market complex station, and Egmore, has reduced the need for opening additional ticket counters mainly during peak hours and make better use of the ticket issuing staff by posting in lesser important railway stations in the city. S. Amarnath, who travels on the west section from MMC to Thiruninravur, said before the launch of UTS, the ticket counters were packed at the MMC railway station. Tension ran high among commuters for getting, and heated exchanges at the counters were common. But since the launch of the UTS the tickets could be easily purchased either through the mobile app or by scanning the QR code fixed at the ticket counters through the app. While the UTS has been operating seamlessly to help commuters purchase season passes and train tickets, the commuters find the mobile app not very customer friendly for the commuters having seasonal passes to travel in other routes. S. Purushoth, a regular traveller on the Mass Rapid Transit system (MRTS), rued that though the season passes are issued on the app, it is shown as a separate ticket, which is a drawback. In case of a commuter having a season ticket from Perungudi to Beach and wants to travel till Avadi, he cannot use the season ticket and instead has to purchase a new ticket from Perungudi to Avadi. The suburban commuters also want the QR code to be pasted at the entrance of the railway station in addition at the ticket counters as it would help save the commuters to make a long walk to the counters in some railway stations.
The Hindu
14-07-2025
- General
- The Hindu
Tiruvallur freight train fire: Southern Railway completes track restoration work
The Southern Railway, during a night long restoration work on Sunday (July 13, 2025), restored both the up and down tracks which were affected after a fire accident and derailment of freight wagons near Tiruvallur. Earlier in the day, a wagon carrying fuel from Harbour to Wallajah siding, caught fire resulting in 12 wagons being damaged and derailment of six wagons. The fire accident resulted in several mail and express train services from Chennai being suspended; and termination and diversion of incoming trains. Suburban train services on the west section towards Tiruvallur and Arakkonam were completely stopped with shuttle services operated from Avadi to Moore Market complex (MMC) suburban railway station. M. Senthamil Selvan, Chief Public Relations Officer of Southern Railway, said as announced earlier, the tracks were made fit for operation and the Dr. MGR Chennai Central-Thiruvananthapuram (12695) express train was operated on the down line at 10 p.m. on Sunday and the upline was restored and Yercaud Express (22650) from Erode to Chennai was received. On Monday (July 14) morning, the Southern Railway also decided to operate suburban electrical multiple unit (EMU) trains between MMC and Tiruvallur and Arakkonam as specials at 30-minute intervals. Mr. Selvan said the suburban trains were operated taking into consideration the huge office-going population from Arakkonam and Tiruvallur, while maintaining normal EMU services from Avadi to MMC.
The Hindu
13-06-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
Survey begins for doubling of tracks on the route between Arakkonam and Chengalpattu
: In a major development for rail users taking the Kancheepuram and Thirumalpur route, the Southern Railway has begun a survey for doubling the tracks from Chengalpattu to Arakkonam via Takkolam. The track doubling will help ease rail traffic, and create a dedicated corridor for operating direct suburban train services from Arakkonam to Chengalpattu, avoiding the need for circular route via Beach. M. Senthamil Selvan, Chief Public Relations officer of Southern Railway, said the Final Location Survey (FLS) for the project had been approved for the Chengalpattu-Arakkonam corridor via Kancheepuram and Thirumalpur. A branching track has been planned to link Palur-Paranur bypass. At present, the Chengalpattu to Arakkonam route, has only one track with nine railway stations. Some stations are Reddipalayam, Villiambakkam, Palur, Palayasivaram, Walajabad, Nathapettai, Old Kancheepuram and Kancheepuram. Kancheepuram junction serves as the freight hub for transporting not only industrial finished goods from Walajabad, but also agricultural and food materials. The suburban train services operated by the Chennai Division from Beach to Chengalpattu via Tambaram, which includes the Thirumalpur section, sees a patronage of more than 10 lakh people every day, with over one lakh commuters travelling to Thirumalpur. For several years, the residents in Kancheepuram have been requesting for doubling the tracks, at least from Thirumalpur to Chengalpattu, to create a dedicated suburban train corridor to Beach. J. Ranganathan, office bearer of the Chennai-Kanchi Rail Users Association, said thousands of office-goers and traders bound for Chennai opt for the cheap suburban services, but the lack of services from Kancheepuram to Chennai Beach makes it a daily struggle. Normally, a few train services, which are operated to Chengalpattu, are extended to Thirumalpur via Kancheepuram on the single track. Commuters in Kancheepuram have been seeking the doubling of tracks for a long time as that would help thousands of workers from as far as Tiruvallur, Arakkonam and Tiruttani to have direct train facilities to Kancheepuram and Chengalpattu, instead of the time-consuming circular route that is now being operated, he added. D. Kishore Kumar, a member of the Divisional Railway Users Consultative Committee (DRUCC), had highlighted the issue in a recent meeting with senior railway officials of the Chennai Division. He had stressed the need to upgrade Kancheepuram to a suburban category in the light of the municipality being made a Corporation and increasing migration from Chennai. This section was the only one left out in the region under the Chennai division, though it has been fetching high freight and passenger revenue. Mr. Kumar said track doubling project had become pertinent for operating freight trains because of the presence of automobile hub at Walajabad and the goods shed in Kancheepuram. The Southern Railway has a line capacity utilisation of 105%, and this is projected to increase by 119% in 2025. The Southern Railway, having converted all meter gauge tracks to broad gauge by 2010, converted the meter gauge of the Arakkonam-Chengalpattu section to broad gauge in 2019, after several years of delay due to land acquisition issues. The broad gauge line was commissioned in January 2019, creating a direct track link from Chengalpattu to Arakkonam. The Southern Railway, having converted all meter gauge tracks to broad gauge by 2010, converted the meter gauge of the Arakkonam-Chengalpattu section to broad gauge in 2019, after several years of delay due to land acquisition issues. The broad gauge line was commissioned in January 2019, creating a direct track link from Chengalpattu to Arakkonam.
The Hindu
05-06-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
Egmore railway station redevelopment work gathers pace
The Egmore railway station is set for a major transformation in outlook as well as passenger amenities on various fronts, as the redevelopment project is gaining pace and is expected to be completed by the end of this year. The Dr. MGR Chennai Central station is the numero uno terminal in the city. The 114-year-old Egmore railway terminal is the gateway for hundreds of trains operated to the south and down south parts of the State and remains as the important link towards the Gudur route in Andhra Pradesh. The station handles more than 560 train services including suburban train services daily. The heritage-tagged railway terminal is undergoing redevelopment at a cost of ₹734.91 crore by Hyderabad-based DEC Infrastructure and Project India with the project management service awarded to Tata Consulting Engineers. M. Senthamil Selvan, Chief Public Relations officer of Southern Railway, said the redevelopment project would put Egmore railway station in the international range of standards for passenger amenities and operation of trains with the focus being to remove the cluttered and congested passenger movements by creating dedicated separate arrival and departure of passengers similar to airports. As part of the access facilities for the passengers a total of 32 escalators and 47 lifts are proposed to be installed at various points of the mega terminal to be spread over 1.35 lakh square metres. The redevelopment project has been designed in such a way to merge the modern design while retaining the facade of the heritage building housed on Gandhi Irwin Salai. As part of this two new station buildings would come up to have ease of access from the two arterial roads including Gandhi Irwin Salai and Poonamallee High Road with arrival and departure concourses, multi level car parking, foot over bridge, connectivity to all platforms, food plazas, modern public conveniences, and new electrical substation. In this redevelopment work which has been divided into 13 sub projects four sub works have been commenced and the remaining works to be started by next month. As part of energy conservation the station would have rooftop solar power with an installed capacity of 2.95 mega watt per hour. S. Arun, a regular suburban commuter, wanted the redevelopment project, which was initiated nearly two years ago in 2022, to be completed fast as the project was progressing slowly. M. Ganesan, a resident of Kodambakkam, complained about the escalator in the suburban section located on north side of the railway station not operating regularly causing severe inconveniences to the commuters.
