When MRTS - means Mass Rapid Transit System by the Authorities, I would like to call that as Majestic Route to evade Traffic Stings. This is really a boon to all Chennaities who stay in the Southern part of Chennai. For years, there were no train route to the some of the Southern part of Chennai, which is Triplicane, Mylapore, Alwarpet, Kotturpuram, Adyar, Thiruvanmiyur, Velachery etc.,
Till MRTS came into picture, the residents took solace from the MTC [Previously known as Pallavan], Auto Rickshaw [Phew. My Blood Pressure raises, like yours, when I say Auto Rickshaw in Chennai] & Other Personal Transportation Systems. MRTS delivers a service, which is affordable by all the class of people, whilst giving high speed access to all the stations till Beach. As this is the last station available currently, when you board an MRTS Train. Personally, I feel that there can be MRTS trains, which can be directly routed from Velachery to Avadi or Tiruvallur, as the BG lines from Beach to Avadi & from Beach to Velachery are accessible by BG trains. This will help a large number of people. Like always, everybody else knows the solution, but the department will take it’s own time, hope they do this soon, if there are no technical problems.
Roughly it takes 35 minutes from Velachery to Beach. If you have to reach at this pace with your personal transportation, you need to break the law and have to drive either in the early morning hours or at late night [Too Risky, Never Try This At Roads]. Why take risk take MRTS. The cleanliness of the train’s is average, surprisingly till now, there are no mobile hawkers or sellers in this route. I personally feel that these trains should be operated with automatic doors for safety concerns. This statement actually is an unfulfilled expectation from my deep heart: What I expected earlier was a Metro on this route. But, MRTS came. Never mind I am satisfied with this service from the Government.
The route I normally take during my visit to relatives place is MRTS to SUBURBAN Rail Track. Thiruvanmiyur to Avadi. It costs Rs. 9/- for this journey. A comfortable journey, which is quick and fast for this rate is absolutely great. It takes around 1:45 Minutes train journey for me to reach the destination and vice-versa.
*Parking
*Parking has to really improve a lot in these MRTS route stations. No lights, few of the MRTS Station parking are not meant for Four wheelers, even though they have the facility. Most of the Parking lots are built underground, and when it rains, your bike is in knee deep water. During night time there is no sufficient lighting to pickup your vehicle from the stand.
*Ticket Counter
*The ticket counters are not well analyzed and placed, especially in Thiruvanmiyur, one has to walk many a meters to pick up his/her ticket, by the time the train would have left the station. It’s a common factor that a Ticket counter should be at the center of station, so that it’s accessible by commuters who enter the station from either side.
*Accessibility to MRTS Stations
*On the accessibility feature, MTC and MRTS should work better to provide continous bus services to all the MRTS stations, especially this is applicable to Thiruvanmiyur, Indira Nagar, Velachery, Greenways Road & Kotturpuram. All other areas are already connected to bus services. When I say accessibility I am referring to a very near bus stop near the station.
*Security in MRTS Trains & Stations
*Security is average, during my travel, I was able to find few armed RPF personnel in many a stations at all times. Moreover, I have seen few policemen [Male;)] as a security measure in the Ladies Compartment. However, it doesn’t matter whether you are a male or female when you are being provided with proper security.
Overall the service is good. The facilities avaiable can be improved. There can be much better utilization of the MRTS Railway stations, with leasing and renting of spaces to shops, so that it becomes MRTS becomes one stop shop for travel and other necessary needs for day to day life.