Check-in an Hour Early at Central or Miss Train

Chennai:

Get into the Chennai Central railway station an hour before your journey starts or you have the chances of missing your train!

After the blast at Chennai Central, security has been tightened so much that huge serpentine queues could be seen waiting to enter the station after getting their baggage cleared by the security personnel.

Railway police sources said that while the security clearance may hardly take a minute but it is the huge queue that is posing the problem for commuters. It is believed that 2.2 lakh passengers, a day, visit Chennai Central railway station

This has resulted in many commuters missing the train and few have to pull the chain so that they could manage to proceed on their journey along with their family.

There have been around 10 cases registered for chain pulling in the last one week after the blast and few of them pertain to passengers pulling the chain to help their family or friends catch the train, railway sources said. It is also learnt that there may be more cases that have gone unregistered.

Sanjay, a railway passenger, states that earlier one plans to reach the station half-an-hour early. “But now things are different. You have to reach the station an hour in advance so that you don’t miss the train,” he says.

The security has become more or less like the one in airport. Now, one can’t have the luxury of just stepping out from the vehicle and entering the station to board the train, says a police personnel.

Recalling an incident, the police personnel said that a few days ago a passenger in the train pulled a chain to help a mother and her two children board the train. Both of them were unable to catch the train on time, he said. “We could not find out who pulled the chain,” he said.

Interestingly, the security at the railway station has been a big headache for railway personnel who are working overtime. “Most of our leave has been also cancelled,” a railway personnel on duty confides.

While giving the statistics of chain pulling, railway police said that in the last one year a total of 100 cases of chain pulling were registered. This year there are around 40 cases of chain pulling, including 10 cases during the last one week after the blast.