To speed up the suburban trains in Chennai, time table revised now
Posted on: 19/Jul/2019 9:57:43 AM
Recently bunching of suburban trains at the Beach station was reported after the new suburban timetable was announced and it grabbed many eyeballs. The latest news is Chennai division of southern railway has once again revised the time table and resolved the issue.
It must be noted that the updated timetable has been shared on the southern railways official website and it came to effect from Wednesday, 17th July 2019. Important information is for the suburban trains to cover a distance of 9 km from Nungambakkam to Beach as many as 57 minutes was taken whereas it usually takes just 16 minutes to cover the above said distance. This was according to the timetable.
It has been pointed out by some commuters that there was an average delay of 25 to 30 min for trains entering Beach. Every day in the peak hours of time, thousands of office goers and students use the popular Beach-Tambaram- Chengalpet section. It was a mathematical issue in scheduling and this was later confirmed by a senior official. The suburban trains were entering Chennai Beach once every 7 minutes whereas trains were leaving Beach station once in 10 minutes only. This was as per the fresh timetable. This has resulted in piling of trains for every second or third service.
The shocking information is as many as 7 to 8 trains were bunched one behind another in the critical morning peak hours and this was the reason for the delay of trains. It is important to note that after the bunching of trains was reported an emergency meeting was called with the operating staffs concerned.
The point is it was decided that when a suburban train entered Beach every 7 minutes then it should leave Beach every 6 minutes. It is revealed that the headway for the outgoing trains must be less than that of the incoming trains in Beach station. It was mentioned by an official that this change has been reflected in the revised time table. There has been surge in complaints due to bunching issue and it is said that the officials are waiting to get the feedback from the commuters about the changed timings.
