The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Perungalathur railway station level-crossing may be closed

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Tuesday, Jun 10, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Perungalathur railway station level-crossing may be closed

K. Manikandan

For extending platform to accommodate 12-car EMU trains

— Photo: A.Muralitharan

One of the two level-crossings near the Perungalathur railway station, which may be closed down to facilitate a platform extension work.

TAMBARAM: One of the two level-crossings on either sides of the Perungalathur Railway Station is expected to be closed down by Southern Railway to facilitate extension of the station’s platform to accommodate 12-car suburban electric trains. At present, only nine-car rakes halt at the railway station.

While welcoming the move to increase the platform’s length, residents, elected representatives and commuters from Perungalathur and Peerkankaranai insist that the level-crossing be closed down only after creating an alternative access.

Southern Railway sources said nearly 70 suburban electric train services were operated every day on the Tambaram - Chengalpattu - Kancheepuram - Tirumalpur sector. But for a few fast services that had 12 cars, the rest of the normal services (halting at all stations) were all nine-car rakes. The reason is that among all stations on this sector, only Perungalathur railway station was not long enough to accommodate 12-car trains.

As two level crossings — LC No.32 on the northern end and LC No.33 on the southern end — are just metres away from the platform’s end, one of them had to be closed down to make way for the platform extension. Residents and commuters learnt some months ago that Southern Railway would start work on extending the platform.

A traffic census conducted in March 2006 revealed that LC No.32 had witnessed a traffic flow of 8.61 lakh train vehicle units, while it was 7.43 lakh train vehicle units in LC No. 33.

The level-crossings linked the Grand Southern Trunk Road with many thickly populated residential areas.

The Peerkankaranai and Perungalathur residents say that closing down anyone of the crossings would cause severe hardship to the residents, particularly school children and other road-users.

Southern Railway officials said work on extending the platform was urgent, as it was the only station in the entire suburban sector, which was unable to accommodate trains with 12 cars.

D. Rajendran and S. Sekar, presidents of Peerkankaranai and Perungalathur Town Panchayats respectively, have written to Southern Railway officials, urging them not to close down any of the level-crossings without taking measures for creating an alternative access.

Limited-use subways like the one in Tambaram used by two-wheelers and cars could be built in a short span of time here, they suggested.

Then the level-crossings could be closed down for increasing the platform’s length, they said.

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