Chennai: Thousands of passengers arriving by train from various districts, as well as commuters switching between trains and MTC buses, are forced to climb steep stairs as the escalators on the foot overbridge across Grand Southern Trunk Road near Tambaram railway station rarely function.The foot overbridge was inaugurated in 2023 and has four escalators two on either side of the road. Commuters and residents complain that the escalators have not been functioning properly, and blame state highways and Tambaram corporation officials for turning a blind eye to the inconvenience.“On some days, the escalators on the side of the bus do not work, and on others, it’s those on the railway station side. I have often seen senior citizens left confused on seeing the stationary escalators with steep steps,” said Sudershan, an employee at a private firm who regularly uses the foot overbridge.Sources in the highways department said the escalators are switched off to keep the electricity bills under control. “After the electricity tariff revision in the past few years, the electricity bill for the escalators shot beyond 1 lakh. Since claiming the bills became difficult, the escalators are run for limited hours,” said a source.The contract was to operate the escalators for only 12 hours. But they have been running beyond that from 3am to 11pm to meet commuter demand, leading to higher electricity bills, said the source. “The escalators also lack sensor-based operation and require manual intervention to switch them on and off, making the process even more cumbersome,” added the source.P Viswanathan of Chitlapakkam said the foot overbridges at Sanatorium, where a govt hospital was inaugurated last year, and Chromepet too lack escalators. Highways assistant engineer Senthil Kumar said that new escalators for both places are expected soon. “Sanatorium and Chromepet will get new escalators by the end of this month,” he said.
