CMRL officials say that since the patronage in some of these stations is less, it may be difficult to provide working ticket counters and ticketing gates in all entry/exit points.
| Photo Credit: R. RAGU
Even years after the commencement of train services, commuters at quite a few Chennai Metro Rail stations cannot purchase tickets at all entry/exit points. As a result, during peak hours, they have to rush from one end of the station to the other to buy ticket and board the train.
Across the 54-km Phase I and Phase I extension networks, in majority of the stations, a commuter can purchase a ticket from the counters and board a train. But in some of the stations, including the ones in Anna Nagar East, Shenoy Nagar, Nehru Park, Pachaiyappa’s College, Kilpauk, Saidapet, and Toll Gate, ticket counters are not available at all entry/exit points, sources said.
Since the Phase I stations with four entry/exit points are vast and spacious, if a commuter enters one of the points that doesn’t have an operational ticket counter and a ticketing gate, then he/she has to walk all the way to the other end, swipe the ticket, and only then enter the platform.
Exhausting drill
For instance, at Nehru Park, if one enters via entry point B3, he has to walk all the way to entrance A3 to swipe the ticket and reach the platform.
Sandhya Vedullapalli who often commutes from Anna Nagar East Metro Rail station to either High Court station or OTA Nanganallur Road Station said, “Even if one has a ticket, the ticketing gates are not functional in all the entry/exit points. How can senior citizens or those with limited mobility be able to take this walk? It is exhausting. When they can invest thousands of crores to build such massive structures and swanky machines, why can’t they make all entry points functional? Is that too much to ask for?”
According to officials of the Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL), since the patronage in some of these stations is less, it may be difficult to provide working ticket counters and ticketing gates in all entry/exit points. “This aside, we will also have to hire additional manpower and baggage scanning machines as well,” an official said.
Published – June 21, 2025 12:53 am IST