Souther Railways asked to run some express trains from Beach

The SR briefly operated Bengal-bound Howrah Express from the Beach station last month owing to laying of two new lines (5th and 6th) between Moore Market Complex and Basin Bridge. 

The move received an overwhelming response from travellers, particularly construction workers who largely commute back home in the train. They found it easy to reach the Beach station from Old Mahabalipuram Road, where construction projects happen aplenty. 

“I did not have to alight at Park Town and jaywalk to reach an already overcrowded Central station. We just had to change platforms when they operated Howrah Express from here (Beach station). Howrah Express starts late in the night and there is no question of local train traffic being affected by the express train. If they improve amenities at the Beach station and continue to operate the train from here, it would make traveling easy for many long distance travellers,” said techie Indrajit Gupta from Thoraipakkam who hails from Salt Lake in Kolkata. 

His view was seconded by former Divisional Railway User’s Consultative Committee (DRUCC) member (till July 31, 2016) and secretary of Southern India Chamber of Commerce S Raghavan. He said “It is a good proposal. They have to work out the infrastructural requirement plus traffic and scope of future expansion at Beach station. If they plan it well, it could help reduce congestion to a great extent. To begin with, they can run on trial basis.” 

Another former DRUCC member S Mohanram said, operating express trains from the Beach station would reduce congestion at the Central station, but it should not be tried without laying a fast line and constructing additional platforms at the Beach station where EMUs from Tiruvallur and Gummidipoondi are already suffering delay for want of platforms. 

When asked, senior SR officers told DTNext that the arrangement was only temporary and they have no plans to permanently start express trains from the Beach station.