CHENNAI: Responding to the accessibility issues for elderly and persons with disabilities at Tambaram Railway Station, highlighted by TNIE in its report on September 20, the Southern Railway said that porters have been instructed not to carry passengers on luggage trolleys and instead use wheelchairs. They have also been asked to not charge beyond the prescribed rate.
Southern Railway said that 13 wheelchairs have been stationed at various locations within the station. For elderly, who may need assistance for wheelchair, the prescribed railway charges of `100 will apply. Wheelchairs are also provided to passengers to assist their accompanying elderly passengers, upon submission of any valid identification document to station master. The document is retained as a security measure and returned to passengers upon safe return of the wheelchair.
For persons with disabilities, wheelchair assistance has been provided free of cost. Other assistance facilities, including offering support in accompanying wheelchair users up to the train and facilitating their boarding, will be available on a temporary basis until the new Foot Over Bridge is commissioned, a railway official said.
Information regarding prescribed porter charges, assistance contact number, porter services, wheelchair availability and dedicated contact number have been displayed at prominent locations within the station. Those who need wheelchair can contact the number, or the station manager or station master for availing it, the official added. On concerns that the trolley path and the ramp to access the platforms are difficult to navigate in wheelchairs, officials said that work is ongoing to smoothen the pathway and make it user-friendly, and that it will be completed in one or two days. They added that the pathway is usable with an escort.