Host of railway facilities launched in Tamil Nadu; Guindy gets new booking office

The Indian Railways has been making several efforts to provide better amenities for the passengers across all divisions and Chennai division is no exception, Suresh Prabhu said.

Southern Railway Additional General Manager P K Mishra welcomed the gathering at the function held at Chennai Central Railway Station.

Prabhu inaugurated additional rest-rooms at new concourse and LED lightings at Chennai Central Station, new foot-over-bridge at Tiruvottiyur Station, booking office at western side of Guindy station, two escalators at Chepauk Station on Platforms 1 and 2, high speed wi-fi facility at Chengalpattu station, high speed wi-fi facility, information centre and CCTV cameras at Katpadi Station and food plaza at Arakkonam, along with some projects in Madurai, Salem and Tiruchy divisions.

App based cab service in Tiruchy: Suresh Prabhu also inaugurated the app based cab booking service for Tiruchy railway station. The rail users who have been insisting for pre-paid taxis to avoid exorbitant fare collection by auto men, welcomed the move and added that it would ease their journey. Though the Tiruchy Railway Division authorities were pushing for a dedicated prepaid auto service to ensure smooth transit for the rail commuters for several years, they could not materialize it due to the protest from the auto drivers’ unions. This resulted in complaints regarding fleecing by auto drivers as there is no proper agency to monitor the tariff.

To ensure the convenience of rail commuters, Tiruchy division recently tied up with Ola, an online transport network, to install a booking unit and halting station in an area of 210 sq. metre for the cabs at Tiruchy railway junction. The app-based cab services would include app-based auto rickshaw booking in near future. Meanwhile, a section of auto drivers having their auto stand in Tiruchy railway junction protested the move and demanded railway division to refrain from encouraging private transportation service.