CHENNAI: The Gummidipoondi Railway Passengers Welfare Association has urged Southern Railway to provide a lift at Platform 1 of the railway station, citing daily hardship for thousands of commuters.
According to railway data, the station records an average daily footfall of 17,000 passengers and earns about Rs 1.04 lakh per day. Nearly 84 EMU services halt here. Classified as a Suburban Grade-3 (SG3) station, Gummidipoondi serves a major industrial belt and a rapidly growing residential town. It is currently being redeveloped under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme (ABSS) at a cost of Rs 37.76 crore.
Despite the scale of redevelopment, passengers say Platform 1 – the most frequently used platform because it faces the main bazaar area and has the ticket counter – remains without a lift. Lifts have been commissioned on Platforms 2, 3 and 4.
“Under the ongoing ABSS works, all ground-level pathways and direct approaches have been closed. Every passenger approaching from the bazaar side is forced to use the foot overbridge,” said S Suresh Babu, president of the Gummidipoondi Railway Passengers Welfare Association. “Without a lift or ramp on Platform 1, senior citizens, differently-abled persons, workers and students face daily inconvenience and risk.”
With the closure of ground-level access routes, passengers must climb the FOB to reach any platform. The FOB itself does not have a ramp, making barrier-free movement impossible, residents said.
They have requested Southern Railway to sanction the installation of a lift at Platform 1 at the earliest, noting the station’s importance to workers, traders and students travelling to industrial units in and around Gummidipoondi.
A Southern Railway official said the Engineering Department has submitted the feasibility report for installing a lift at Platform 1 to the Electrical Department. “Once approval is received, installation will be taken up,” the official said.