Introduction: Objective
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INTRODUCTION: The Guindy local railway station located near the Madras race club is selected and analysed for this study. All relevant data has been collected and compiled for this location for the off-peak hour of 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM and peak hour of 5 PM - 6 PM. The Guindy railway station is one of the intermediate railway stations of the Chennai Beach–Chengalpattu section of the Chennai Suburban Railway Network. It serves the residents of Guindy area, a suburb of Chennai. It is located at about 14 km from Chennai Beach terminus. The location map of the Guindy railway station and the race-course is shown in fig. 1 Fig 1: Location of Guindy Railway Station OBJECTIVE: The main objective of the study is to get the different travel patterns, traffic data, flows and interactions happening at the site. This data is to be analysed to find out the various problems associated with the location and to provide some suggestions to improve the multi- modal integration and efficiency of the corridor. 1. Who are the stakeholders at this site? Residents of nearby areas o Two Wheelers o Auto rickshaws o Share Autos o Pedestrians Residents of areas which are further away from the train station o MTC Buses o School/Office Buses o Mini Buses Race course users and officials Vendors and Small business owners Metro Users (In future) Policemen 2. What data needs do you see at this site? User count categorized by mode used to access the station Parking facility availability and usage Monthly pass usage data Vehicle count for the Race Course Road Arrival time distribution of users Schedule of Buses feeding to the local station. 3. Prepare a layout drawing of the study site and nearby transportation facilities : The layout drawing of the site and the nearby transportation facilities are shown in fig 2. Fig 2: Layout of the site 4. Traffic and passenger count : Lane 1 Off peak hour data 15:30 to 15:45 15:45 to 16:00 16:00 to 16:15 16:15 to 16:30 MTC bus users 187 198 304 279 Pedestrians Two-wheelers Cars Cyclists Lane 2 MTC bus users Pedestrians Two-wheelers Cars Cyclists Lane 1 Peak hour data 15:30 to 15:45 15:45 to 16:00 16:00 to 16:15 16:15 to 16:30 MTC bus users Pedestrians Two-wheelers Cars Cyclists Lane 2 MTC bus users Pedestrians Two-wheelers Cars Cyclists * Lane 1- lane adjacent to Guindy railway station, Lane 2- road lane adjacent to Race course Traffic from Bharathi Street is included in Lane 1, and Race course is included in Lane 2 6. Analyse the flows, activities and facilities inside the terminal and suggest improvements towards multi modal integration: Activities: o Buy tickets in the ticket counter o Wait for the arrival of the trains o Purchasing from the shops/ food stalls o Some use the pedestrian crossing to cross from race course to anna salai and vice versa. Facilities: o Refreshment stalls o Book stalls o Seats present on the platform Improvements: o The ticketing facilities can be integrated for the buses and train modes by having a smart card system in place o Digital display boards can be placed at the Bus stops and on Terminals indicating the current time and arrival time of the next train. o Real time travel information facilities can be established at the railway station. For eg. Bus arrival times on various routes can be predicted and displayed. 7. What major travel pattern do you observe? For the MTC bus traffic approaching from Velachery, the number of buses actually decreased in the peak hour but almost all buses were filled beyond their capacity. This may be due to congestion on the roads, which increases bus travel time and consequentially, the passengers. On the other hand, observed bus frequency was more in the off-peak hour with lesser occupancy The Male-Female passenger ratio is much skewed. There were disproportionately more men when compared to ladies in all the modes analysed. Users coming to the station are majorly from south bound MTC buses and majority of users coming out of the station are travelling south towards Porur, Velachery The number of pedestrians from Lane 1 showed a markable difference in the peak and off-peak period (the former being the larger). 8. What existing and emerging problems do you identify? Two-wheeler parking facilities are inadequate and most of the vehicles are parked outside the station in an adjacent lane causing congestion in these areas. Absence of facilities for refreshments or restrooms inside the station is one major issue observed in the station. But as most of the people coming to this station are those who make mandatory trips , they do not have much of a choice. Automatic ticketing system is not available in Race course entry to the station People have to wait for long queues in peak hours for getting ticket, posing a major discomfort especially for people travelling in less-frequency trains (for instance, the Chengalpattu bound trains). Adding to the previous point, there also happens to be an inadequate shelter spot for the travellers waiting to collect their tickets. Long queues coupled with this issue makes travellers go through a really hard time. Cleanliness and Hygiene are totally ignored in the locality and is highly unsatisfactory. The road adjacent to the station is generally heavily crowded with people especially because of the presence of two bus stops, careless pedestrians, and rickshaw drivers. In fact, there happens to be a constant on -site monitoring of the congestion by the traffic police who reported that accidents were common especially when the race happens at the Guindy Race course. Race course road widening activity causes temporary conflicts with the movement of traffic. .