Chennai Central Station - Some observations

Chennai Central
Date: 11-04-2010.
While I was moving out of the Chennai Central station towards the parking lot with the two people sent by Hanif Bhai (Really thankful to him for arranging for my transport in this new city. Hats off to my father and his friends), I observed the following:
1. The Chennai Central platforms had very few shops where food, magazines, newspapers, etc are sold as compared to Mumbai or Pune stations where on each platform, we come across 1 or 2 such small stores (or khokas)
2. The Chennai Central had quite a lot of people working as a part of South Western Maintenance staff. These people cleaned the train and looked after the maintenance of the coaches from inside. (This isn’t observed in Mumbai Central or CST. Atleast, I haven’t come across such staff)
3. The announcements were made in a lot of languages including English and Hindi. Also, the announcement was loud and clear unlike many other stations in Mumbai and even Sangli where the quality of sound of the announcements isn’t so good.
4. The people in the station were quite disciplined. A waiting area is present at the Chennai Central station for sitting about 200 people. I observed the whole waiting area full of people waiting patiently watching Television (But Local language). There wasn’t any commotion as seen in Mumbai CST station. The waiting area at CST should be revamped and some arrangements like those at Chennai Central should be considered
5. A distinct thing observed at Chennai station was the existence of Dormitories – both for Men and Women and that too at cheap rates of Rs. 80 per person. It makes things easier for a person travelling alone and who has come for a day or two. There were also separate arrangements for AC and other upper classes. CST, Pune stations lack this feature. I feel that commercial places like Pune, Mumbai, etc should have dormitories in place so that people can change, have a bath there and leave for work directly from the station. It can also add to the revenue of the India Railways. They should at least give this concept a try.
6. Entrance/ Exit – I came across 2 exit points and around 2 entrance points to the station (There could be some more). However, they kept open only 1 entrance and 1 exit point for security reasons which I found good. (Other stations can also learn from such a security arrangement)
7. Parking/ Taxi area – The Taxi/ auto areas were clearly demarcated from the private vehicle parking area which prevented any unknown vehicle from coming near the entrance of the station. This arrangement also ensures that the coolies at the Chennai Central station get a good business transporting luggage from station to private parking space. Also, each private vehicle is charged about Rs 10 per hour or so. At CST, the rates are quite less while at Pune, I think it is free. (Valuable revenue lost by IR at these places).
8. Chennai Central station is able to turnaround coaches faster as compared to CST. (Only 1 data point available – still it proves). The train coaches at Chennai are cleaned, water filled and checked right at the stations, whereas at CST such a facility isn’t available. For water filling and other activities, the coaches need to move to a place between Masjid and CST, where such equipment are available. Hence, the train turnaround time is lesser at Chennai Central as compared to Mumbai CST.