As the Egmore railway station undergoes massive redevelopment work under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme (ABSS), the commuters are facing severe hardships due to irregular functioning of escalators linked to the narrow foot overbridges (FOB) and poor lighting.
The Egmore railway station attracts thousands of passengers using long distance trains bound for the southern districts every day. It is also one of the most important suburban railway stations on the Beach-Tambaram and Chengalpattu corridor.
With the redevelopment work in progress for the construction of a concourse, passengers are experiencing overcrowding and inconvenience caused due to the narrow FOBs situated on both sides of the station. Also, the escalators installed in the main station, as well as on the platforms of the suburban station, do not function regularly. Though an elevator is available, passengers have to wait for a long time to use it.
On Monday, a woman at the front of an escalator in the station fell, triggering a chain reaction, causing several people on the escalator to lose their balance and fall. However, an alert bystander immediately activated the emergency stop mechanism, bringing the escalator to a halt. The incident has brought focus on the need to post a guard at the escalators to help those not having the knowledge of using it, commuters said.
At present, two FOBs located on the north and south sides are serving as the link for passengers and suburban commuters to access all the platforms from the entrances of both sides of the railway station. However, there have been complaints from commuters using the suburban trains, that the escalator installed in the north side of the platforms 10 and 11 does not function regularly. The escalators are switched off after rush hours in the morning and evening, causing severe hardships to senior citizens and women.
R. Ganesh, a regular commuter from Sanatorium, said there is a heavy rush of commuters every day, to both the suburban platforms, as well as the platforms of long distance trains.
Passengers face hardships as there are only two escalators, which too function irregularly. The commuters also complained about the poor lighting in the FOB located on north side.
A senior official of the Chennai division of Southern Railway said there are no issues regarding the lighting in the FOBs as they are all functioning properly. The maintenance staff are routinely monitoring the functioning of lights in the FOBs.
Regarding the posting of a guard to man the escalators to avoid unnecessary accidents, the official said currently the duty staff of the substation are posted at the escalators and routine checks were carried out by senior officials to ensure duty staff are posted at all escalators at the platforms.
Published - July 15, 2026 05:00 am IST