Egmore, Chennai Central Railway stations get poor cleanliness rating
CHENNAI: Contrary to the popular perception that railway stations in capital cities were in better shape than stations elsewhere, two of India’s busiest stations in Chennai fared low in cleanliness survey in which rail users responded.
Low scores were given by passengers for both Chennai Central and Egmore on two parameters: prompt disposal of garbage and clean toilets. A score of less than 500 out of a maximum of 1,000 was marked for both the parameters for both the stations. Chennai Central and Chennai Egmore figure nowhere near the top of the rankings. While the former was ranked at 121 (All India Rank, AIR), the latter scored worse with 141 AIR. The other key gateway within Chennai railway division, Tambaram, fared no better with 174 AIR.
At Egmore, passengers faced immense difficulty as the toilet complex near the far end of the platform number 11 was found locked on Sunday. Speaking to Express, G Prabhakar, station manager, Egmore station, said the toilets were not safe, and hence were kept locked. “But we are building a new toilet complex on the same platform,” he said. In its recommendations, the survey report said that promptness in cleaning and disposing of garbage, besides availability and cleanliness of toilets were among the six parameters that needed to be improved to raise passenger satisfaction at the two important stations in the Indian Railways network.