CHENNAI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually inaugurated the redeveloped Chennai Park station from Jalandhar Cantt station in Punjab on Friday. The station was part of the 75 stations redeveloped under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme (ABSS). The inauguration was live-streamed at an event held on Platform 1A of the station, in which Governor Rajendra Viswanath Arlekar participated.
Redeveloped at a cost of Rs 14.79 crore, Park station, on the Chennai Beach-Tambaram suburban line, is one of the busiest suburban stations, with a daily footfall of around 29,000 passengers. The redevelopment includes a new entrance canopy, a tower, modern and visible signages, a new booking office, resurfaced flooring, additional platform shelters, and complete roof replacement.
Seamless multi-modal connectivity has also been established through two newly commissioned lifts for the foot over bridge (FOB) and dedicated pedestrian walkways connecting the MRTS platform and Central Metro station.
However, even as the PM inaugurated the stations at around 4.20 pm, sudden rain turned the granite flooring on portions of all three platforms — 1A, 1 and 2 — without overhead cover slippery. At platform 1A, where the event was taking place, sanitary workers were seen continuously mopping the floor, to clear the stagnant water.
In addition to all three platforms, granite flooring is also used for the staircase connecting the platforms through the foot over bridge, and rainwater entered from the sides where there was no shelter, making sections of stairs slippery as well. TNIE noticed several passengers walking cautiously to avoid slipping.
Commuters Krishna Priya, T Dhanush and R Sampath said they had to walk with extra caution as the floor was wet and slippery. In addition, the walls along the walking area of the foot over bridge were worn out, with exposed bricks, steel rods and rusted metal visible.
When asked about these issues, a Southern Railway spokesperson said, “The flooring has been laid as per standards after testing.”
