The Hindu Business Line : A princely ride in Chennai's MRTS

If you want to avoid peak-hour traffic and the bad roads of Chennai, there is always an alternative in the MRTS. But, unfortunately, this system is yet to find adequate patronage among Chennaiites.

It is the kind of experience that can make you feel quite princely. We are talking here of a commute on the Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) train in Chennai city. The train currently runs a distance of 9 km between Tirumailai, a busy residential and shopping centre near the Eastern part of the city, and Beach Station, in the business district. On the way, it crosses six stations and offers a peep of the spectacular Marina beach.

You can opt for the MRTS, if you are averse to negotiating the narrow and potholed roads of Chennai. You don't have to jostle for space with every aggressive water tanker and inhale fumes from smoke belching public buses. You don't have to put up with the ubiquitous and indisciplined auto drivers who gyrate seamlessly across lanes.

You can avoid the traffic jams that are rising in frequency as private vehicles encroach on every bit of public space. You don't have to wait in the hot sun, sweating and cursing as every political party takes out rallies for the flimsiest of reasons - occupying the whole road and choking traffic for hours and miles on end. Think of all this, and you might just be ready to rush to the nearest MRTS station.

The train, which currently runs about 6 km on elevated tracks set on the banks of the Buckingham Canal, gives you a feeling of being above the din and dust of daily life.

Want to stretch your legs? There is no one to object — at least not most of the time. You want the window seat? No problem. There are dozens to choose from. Do you want to sit closer to the fan whirring vaguely and without much effect at a distance (as most railway fans do)? No problem. Often, you have the whole roomy compartment to yourself — not just your row of seats.

Just think of your fellow citizens packed like sardines on the Mumbai trains and hanging out of the doorways and on to the train windows for dear life — and you know that what you are experiencing is sheer luxury. Neither the crease of your pant nor the shine on your shoes is disturbed on the MRTS.

Over the next seven minutes that it takes to reach my destination, crossing three other stations, there are hardly a dozen passengers getting in or out. It only serves to heighten my sense of privilege and exclusivity. When I get off at the station that is deserted, windswept and clean, there may be just four or five (usually colleagues) with me. On the return journey in the evening, it's the same story. It may well have been a train run by our company!

The downside to the lack of crowds is that it makes commuting on the MRTS in the late evenings slightly unsafe for women. It would also make you and the few others who may stand defencelessly on the platforms, the victims of a vicious attack by the millions of giant mosquitoes that breed on the stagnant waters of the Buckingham Canal below.

Is the MRTS in Chennai, then, really meant for the masses? Did the railways err when they laid this line, you wonder? Did they get the route wrong? What happened to the crowds that were supposed to throng and use this service that scythes through this sprawling city?

One grouse voiced frequently is that the service doesn't cover the denser traffic corridors — Anna Salai and Poonamallee High Road. This will probably have to be addressed by a new Metro project.

Complaints about the lack of easy accessibility of stations, poorly maintained surroundings and dirty approach roads, the need for integrating with other forms of transport — are often heard and will have to be addressed by the Railways to improve usability.

The presence of a reasonably competent bus transport system has also deterred the average Chennaite from experimenting with the parakkum rail — Tamil for "flying train".

Some give excuses such as the high cost of fares (minimum Rs 6), the lack of adequate frequency, or the need to climb two flights of stairs. These must necessarily be termed as ridiculous, coming as they do from people who don't bat an eyelid when paying Rs 15 (when the official minimum is Rs 7) for the shortest auto ride in Chennai. And as for frequency, you have a train every 10 minutes during the peak hours (8 a.m. - 10.30 a.m. and 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.) and a train at about 20 minutes' frequency during the rest of the day.

As for the two flights of stairs, dear Chennaite — please get at least that much exercise! If you are a senior citizen, there are escalators and lifts (though one has to concede that some of them may not be working all the time!)

Conceived way back in 1984, the first phase of the project (between Beach Station and Mylapore) was completed in 1997 at a cost of Rs 260 crore. It is now being argued that the second phase of the project, currently under implementation between Tirumailai and Velacherry, a southern suburb, covering a distance of 11 km, will change the fortunes of this system. (One recalls the same thing being said when the service was first extended upto Tirumailai a couple of years ago.) The second phase of the project is expected to cost about Rs 700 crore.

The moment of reckoning is close at hand — if one goes by the latest deadline for the inauguration of this section.

So, when that comes around, what will happen? Will I have to share my compartment with others? Visions of part of the torso hanging out of an overcrowded compartment, as in the Mumbai local trains, are too troubling to extend this article any further.

Picture by Bijoy Ghosh

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