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October 17, 2023 10:25 pm | Updated October 18, 2023 01:23 pm IST
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Commuters waiting to a boarding a bus on without shelter at the heat wave on a hot summer day in Tambaram. File | Photo Credit: B. Velankanni Raj
The natural alignment of the GST Road and the railway junction has helped Tambaram emerge as the third railway terminal. Today, Tambaram junction has become a multi-modal transport hub and the gateway to the southern corridor. The residents as well as thousands of traders, arriving from various districts, can go to any part of Chennai by suburban trains as well as buses.
However, if there is one area that Tambaram residents find tough to access, it is the Information Technology Corridor. While the residents have good public transport from Avadi, Ambattur and Koyambedu to reach the IT Corridor, officer-goers, especially the software professionals, from Tambaram have to depend on the buses of the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) bound for Thiruvanmiyur or Kelambakkam.
S. Meeran, a resident of East Tambaram, says the dependable bus services for commuting to a private IT park at Perungudi are no. 91, operated from East Tambaram to Thiruvanmiyur through the Pallavaram-Thoraipakkam Radial Road, and no. 95, operated from Tambaram West to Thiruvanmiyur through Medavakkam and Sholinganallur. Though buses are operated with a good frequency on the routes, the crowds are heavy, and the services are unable to meet the demand. So the office-goers are forced to go by their own two-wheelers.
With the Metro Rail project being executed on Perumbakkam Main Road, which links Medavakkam with Sholinganallur, the road has become narrow, and the consequent diversion of MTC buses causes severe difficulties to the office-goers depending on public buses. They are unable to reach office on time.
T. Hemnath, a resident of Tambaram Sanatorium, says employees working in the IT parks were previously provided with cabs. After the COVID-19 lockdown was lifted and the offices opened up last year, the IT companies pulled out the cabs. Those going to work at software companies on Rajiv Gandhi Salai from Tambaram and beyond are all affected.
Many commuters going to work on Rajiv Gandhi Salai from Tambaram and nearby areas are upset at the delay in the completion of the Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) extension from Velachery to St. Thomas Mount for several years. They are unable to use the most economic public transport facility, unlike those from the far-off Ambattur and Avadi using direct MRTS services and also the link services from Beach. The completion of the extension project would have helped the Tambaram commuters to switch from the suburban trains to the MRTS to go to work at Perungudi, Taramani and Thiruvanmiyur.
The five-kilometre MRTS extension, announced more than a decade ago, was caught in legal hurdles over land acquisition for 500 metres. The land acquisition issue was resolved last year. Southern Railway began the construction of the elevated track in the small portion near St. Thomas Mount. The project is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
The cancellation of the Kilambakkam-Siruseri Metro Rail project and the delay in the execution of the Airport- Kilambakkam Metro Rail project have disappointed the Tambaram residents waiting for easy access to the IT Corridor. The Rajiv Gandhi Salai beyond Sholinganallur houses several big educational institutions and big IT parks. But Tambaram residents have no transport services other than a few buses being operated through Perungalathur, Vandalur, Kelambakkam and Thiruporur.
Employees of the new IT parks on the GST Road, between Vandalur and Chengalpattu, have several transport options, including suburban trains and long-distance buses. But software professionals working at IT companies at Navalur, Kelambakkam and Siruseri on the Rajiv Gandhi Salai have to depend only on private transport. This is one of the reasons for heavy traffic congestion on the IT Corridor.
Sethu Madhavan, a resident of Iyyencheri village, says the Vandalur-Kelambakkam Road, linking the GST Road with the Rajiv Gandhi Salai, has become an important radial road, but very few MTC buses are available for those who commute to the IT Corridor. Civic activists say that if the Airport-Kilambakkam Metro Rail project is cancelled, the Metro Rail has to be extended so far as Tambaram to facilitate a direct access to the central business localities of Anna Salai.
Now, the commuters from Tambaram, bound for Anna Salai, travel by suburban trains till Meenambakkam and switch over to Metro Rail in the absence of direct buses and the termination of the MRTS services at Chintadripet. In the past, the bus (no. A18) was operated with good frequency from Tambaram to Broadway.
The residents of Pallikaranai, located close to Velachery, also suffer from the same problem as those of the Tambaram residents, struggling to go to the St. Thomas Mount and Guindy Metro Rail stations. Social activist Vidyasagar says only a few buses are operated from Pallikaranai to the St. Thomas Mount Metro Rail station at peak hours. They are not able to accommodate the heavy crowd. He wants more bus services through the Inner Ring Road extension connecting the MRTS Railway Station at Velachery, Puzhuthivakkam and Adambakkam. A senior official of the MTC says that because of shortage and absenteeism of the crew, a number of buses are kept idle at the Chromepet depot. There is a proposal to recruit more crew. Once it is done, more buses will be operated from Tambaram to the IT Corridor.
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