CHENNAI: The tussle between Southern Railway and Chennai Metro Rail came to light on Wednesday when the railways threatened to stop vehicles from entering the parking lot of Egmore metro station. The railways has accused Metro Rail of taking over the railway land without proper documents and using it as a parking space.
On Tuesday, the Chennai Division office of Southern Railway sent a letter to Metro Rail asking them to stop parking vehicles in this space. Sources said Metro Rail has no proper documents to prove ownership for this land. A notice sent by Southern Railway was also stuck at the entrance of the station on Wednesday. Metro Rail has been asked to meet with Railways on December 26 to clarify this issue.
This comes in the wake of Metro Rail mulling over taking over from the railways the MRTS extension from Velchery to St Thomas Mount, for a distance of 1.5 km. Metro Rail has put forth suggestions, seeking access to the land as its phase II of Chennai Metro alignment is passing along the MRTS line from St Thomas Mount to Adambakkam.
Staff at the station said RPF personnel came to the station on Wednesday morning, to stop the entry of vehicles near the second entrance. But they left after a few CMRL officials spoke to them.
"CMRL has not taken any action so far to vacate the said area and therefore, usage of the land has to be stopped immediately. Hence, it is requested to direct RPF personnel to close entry/exit of vehicles
with effect from tonight," said the letter sent to CMRL.
Around 700 scooters and 40 plus cars are parked here every day and generate a revenue of Rs 20,000 to Metro Rail. "Though the number of passengers who use this station is not relatively less, many utilise
the parking space as suburban station, bus stop and cental station is close by," said an employee.
Metro Rail officials said negotiations are on with Southern Railway and denied that the land is being used illegally. "We had a similar issue with Airport Authority too, but came to a consensus later. We
have all the necessary documents that will be submitted to railways soon. Parking will continue as usual," said an official.