Southern Railway installs digital display boards but without real time data of arrival of suburban trains

The Southern Railway has installed digital display boards at nearly 50 important railway stations in the city as part of passenger amenities project.

While commuters welcome the digital display boards initiative, they point out that these display boards would not be of much use unless they provide real time data on the arrival of suburban trains.

The display boards have been installed at several railway stations covering all the four sections of the Chennai Division, including Velachery, Palavanthangal, Chromepet, Pallavaram, Nungambakkam, Villivakkam, Minjur, and Tiruvottiyur.

Designed with bright LED displays for high visibility, the boards remain easily readable even during peak hours and under varying light conditions, said a senior railway official. 

While these newly installed display boards are supposed to replace the timetable charts by providing accurate information on train arrivals, in reality, they simply display those that were published in the timetable but the actual timing of arrival of the suburban trains varies a lot, rue the commuters. 

Even before the installation of the digital display boards, the Southern Railway has been making announcements of the arrival of suburban trains through the announcement systems in several important railway stations like Guindy, Mambalam, Egmore, Perambur, Avadi, and Tiruvallur.

T. Ashutosh, a commuter boarding at Chepauk station, said the timings on the digital display boards are the same what has been published and so it is not of any big use to the commuters. 

Railway activists point out that at a time when the digital display boards of the Metrorail trains linked through the GPS installed in the trains exactly predict the arrival of the metro trains in the stations. Similarly, the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) has successfully conducted the testing of the digital display boards informing the arrival of buses in more than 18 bus stops by installing GPS in the entire fleet of 3,500 buses and linking it with the central server plans to install digital display boards in 600 bus stops of the city. 

An assistant loco driver of a suburban train said in almost 50% of the electrical multiple unit (EMU) rakes, the GPS facility is available and the next railway stations are announced to the travelling commuters through the digital display boards fixed inside the EMUs.