Lingampally station lacks basic facilities
The South Central Railway is developing Lingampally railway station as a ‘model’ railway station, but the fact is that it doesn’t have something as basic as a properly functioning public announcement system, drinking water facilities at the second platform, toilets or benches.
The station has an advanced public announcement system, but very little timely information is relayed to passengers by the staff responsible for doing so.
Lack of correct and timely information at railway stations can be dangerous as large numbers of people move in and out of stations.
J. Radhika, a software professional and a regular passenger on the MMTS from Lingampally to Hitech City, said that the communication gap causes confusion among passengers.
“Due to signalling issues, MMTS trains don’t operate from the same platform. At the last moment, railway officials announce the platform information and passengers rush from one platform to another through the foot-over-bridge or by crossing the tracks. Sometimes, there is no announcement at all and passengers run to another platform when they see that the train has arrived,” she said.
Ramesh Dantale, a trader in Lingampally, said trains halt only for one to two minutes and passengers in a hurry to get to the right platform take a shortcut by crossing the tracks.
“Some wait on the foot over bridge to see which platform the train arrives at and then rush to that platform,” he said.
Passengers complain of lack of drinking water at the second platform, lack of toilets and benches. The Lingampally railway station serves 15,000 passengers per day, with 108 trains, including the MMTS, passenger trains and a few express trains halting here.
Chief public relations officer of the SCR, M. Uma Shankar Kumar, says that work on the second foot over bridge will be completed by the end of this month.