Coming soon: double discharge platform at Guindy rail station

Commuters will not have to climb the foot overbridge to get to Metro

03/03/2020, , R. SRIKANTH,CHENNAI

Smooth transition: A double discharge platform is being constructed on the western side of the Guindy railway station. B. Velankanni Raj

Commuters using suburban trains and disembarking at Guindy railway station will no longer have to take a circuitous route and climb the foot overbridge to reach the Metro station.

Southern Railway, to provide easy access to commuters to the Guindy Metro station located within the compound of the suburban railway station, is constructing a platform on the west side. Called a double discharge platform, the facility is already available at important stations such as Park, Tambaram, Mambalam and Egmore. It helps in providing quicker access to multi-modal transport facilities.

A senior official of Southern Railway said all these years the provision of island platforms (entry and exit through only one platform) resulted in commuters being forced to use foot overbridges at railway stations. He said that since the operation of 12-car rakes began, from the earlier nine-car rakes on the Tambaram-Beach section, the foot overbridges had seen congestion at some stations.

In order to provide better access to Metro stations and bus stops near the railway stations and to decongest the the foot overbridges, the railway department has proposed to construct double platforms. As part of this project, Mambalam and Egmore have now been provided with double discharge platforms.

More coming

The railway official said work on the new platform on the western side of Guindy railway station would be completed this month. Double discharge platforms are proposed to be constructed at Chetpet, Nungambakkam, Kodambakkam, Saidapet, St. Thomas Mount, Palavanthangal and Chromepet too. Work will soon start at these stations as well, he added.