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 BeachChengalpattu 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 :

Off peak hour data
Lane 1
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

Peak hour data
Lane 1
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.