CHENNAI: For senior citizens requiring assistance and passengers with limited mobility, reaching platforms 5 to 10 at Tambaram railway station — one of Chennai’s three major NSG-1 category stations — remains an ordeal. With no lift or escalator, some are even forced to travel on luggage trolleys pulled by porters across tracks. The station sees a daily footfall of 1.78 lakh passengers.
V Srividhya (38) of Chitlapakkam faced a distressing experience on August 27 when she had to help her mother board a train to Tirunelveli at 8.50 pm. Speaking to TNIE, she said her 67-year-old mother, V Gomathi, had undergone major hip surgery and suffered from chronic knee pain, making it difficult for her to climb stairs. “There was no lift or wheelchair access to platform 10, where our train was to come. We had to depend on a porter, who charged `500 to take my mother to the platform on a luggage trolley,” she said.
Srividhya further said her mother underwent surgery following an injury she sustained at Tambaram railway station two years ago. “She fell down while deboarding a train at 4.30 am. Construction work was going on at the station at that time and the railway police took it as an accident,” she said.
Activist Dayanand Krishnan, who had shared the video of the August 27 ordeal on social media, said the trolley path from the west side entrance was not proper, with the surface being bumpy and difficult to navigate in a wheelchair.
On September 11 , TNIE witnessed at least a couple more instances of elderly people, children and those with disabilities being carried on luggage trolleys.
Several senior citizens also struggle to climb the stairs to platforms 5 to 10. A few weeks ago, TNIE noticed a senior citizen arriving at the station two hours ahead of his train as he could not climb the stairs quickly.
When contacted, Southern Railway officials said 10 escalators and nine lifts will be installed at the new foot overbridge and along the circulation area. It will become operational by the end of December. Lifts were not feasible at the old foot overbridge due to its 4m width, officials said and assured to make the trolley path accessible to wheelchairs.
The officials further pointed out battery-operated vehicles are not being operated across the tracks of platforms 1 to 4 as suburban trains arrive once every 10 minutes, making it risky.
The officials, however, examined the station on Friday and said they would try to operate such vehicles from platform 1A with an escort as a temporary solution until the new foot overbridge is completed.
