The Legless Centipedes

Photo Essay
The Legless Centipedes
Photographs by Nanda Kumar
Text by Naresh Green

Ever travelled in any of the suburban trains floating throughout Chennai? Indeed, it is a ‘floating’ evidence of all the cultures of Chennai. People from all classes, religions and from varied cultures, travel through these boxes each and every day. If you want to witness people from different walks of life gathered in one place, you have no other options than ending up at two places: the beach and the suburban trains of Chennai. For those who love statistics, take a look at these data: as of 2015-16, nearly 15 lakhs of people use the suburban train service each day! As for the beach, take a trip through the suburban trains to the beach in order to witness the two aspects of a historical event simultaneously.

Chennai has a complex rail network since it is the third largest suburban rail system in India, which has separate tracks for local trains and express trains. You can notice large letters that spell ‘EMU’ on the nose of every suburban train. It is the acronym for ‘Electric Multiple Unit’. The story of EMU dates back to the 1920s, when the British government felt that connecting the northern and southern parts of the city is an absolute necessity, as you can guess, for commercial transactions. The first trains were operated between Tambaram and the harbour in 1928. But they were not electrical, instead, were run by steam locomotives. After two years, the government decided to electrify the rails, the idea which was seeded by Sir Percy Rothera in 1923 as part of the city’s rapid expansion. And to our surprise, Saidapet, St. Thomas Mount and Tambaram were agricultural areas at large, which were being converted into a city suitable for residence. As part of this urbanization, three new lines were to be built: one between Beach and Egmore, and two between Egmore and Tambaram. The first electrically operated train – green coloured with a black wheelbase, wide sliding doors and thick glass fronts, was run on 2nd April 1931, between Madras Beach and Tambaram. Though it ran on 2nd April, service for the public began only by 11th May. Being the governor of Madras then, Sir George Fredric Stanley inaugurated the event and launched the train with the historical words, “Desolate South Madras into burgeoning garden cities.” And now, we are witnessing those words with our eyes!

The train gets alive before dawn and comes to rest after nightfall. To be scientific, the train service was made available from 4 am in the morning to 12.00 pm in the night. These electrical locomotives are considered as the magic carpet of Aladdin. The two long hours’ travel from Tambaram to Madras Beach was reduced to a mere 49 minutes. The number of trains was increased to 45 a day, operating every 10 minutes during peak hours and 30 minutes at other times. Later, the railway lines were separated for passenger and goods trains.

Chennai is flooded with newcomers and tourists each day, and do you know that these sub-urban trains are a major tourist attraction? The tourists can travel in any EMU, crisscrossing Chennai in four suburban railway lines: North Line, South Line, West Line, and the Mass Rapid Transit System. Recently, another feature has been added to our Railways, the country’s first engine-less train, ‘Train 18’ has been launched on October 30, 2018.

The trains of Chennai, especially the suburban ones are very special. Out of the top of my head, I can give one reason: as flight travels are a dream for the sub-urban people, so are the sub-urban trains a dream to the rural people. A rural person’s dream becomes expensive with express trains as they are costly. But, with just Rs.5, anybody can have the ‘train experience’ via these locomotives. When I came to Chennai from a remote place where bus transport is thought to be more expensive, I was amazed to know there are railway tracks inside a city for local transport. The government is concerned about the maintenance of the system. Each and every track is periodically examined and huge care is taken in the maintenance of the rails. The train just glides smoothly on its own lovely rhythmic beat, which sometimes gets synced with our heartbeat!

Have you noticed the movement of the train and wondered if you are inside a large centipede? Even an elitist who witnesses the sharp turn of a train track, standing inside the train will have this crazy thought. These legless centipedes connecting distant places of the city with one another, helped in the transformation of this town into a metropolitan city.

These speeding locomotives carried the people, each of whom had an idea for the city’s development. These many wheeled public modes of transport also hold a very important pride for itself. Comparing to the pollution caused by all the other modes of transport, these electrically driven engines are far more eco-green. They save fuel, energy, time and of course, people.

Accidents happening due to an EMU are very rare. The recent accident in which five passengers died after being trapped in between the platform fencing and the train at St. Thomas Mount, or the past incident on 29th April 2009 in which an unidentified man hijacked a suburban EMU train from Chennai Central suburban terminal and rammed the transporter with stationary goods train at Vyasarpadi Jeeva railway station, resulting in the death of four passengers and injuring 11 others are not the faults of the trains. Though accidents happen, they are not at an alarming rate as it happens on road. The Guindy to Chengalpet suburban section suffers the most from high fatal accidents, affecting nearly 30 people a month. The Chrompet – Tambaram track lists 15 accidents a month as of 2011. But still, they are not the trains’ fault. Even as the population of the city is increasing exponentially, the accident rates are dramatically low.

Nanda Kumar is a student of Mass Communication & Journalism – Online Media

Naresh Green is a freelance journalist, aspirer, environmentalist and a budding educationalist who has a plan to alter our educational system.