CHENNAI: Every day, N Srinivasan alights the suburban train around 7pm, switches on the torch on his mobile phone and walks across the tracks to reach a road that leads to his home on the northern side of Pattabiram railway station, around an hour’s trip by train from the city. Many others, including women, do the same, often stepping aside for express trains.
Putting themselves at risk has become an everyday affair for residents of this western suburb, as Southern Railway has been tardy in introducing and maintaining approach roads, subways and foot overbridges on Tiruvallur route. The reason: Railways is yet to form a separate body for managing suburban services though more than 20 lakh people use the 700 trains that are operated daily.
