Chennai:More capacity on suburban routes

Increasing commuter patronage has encouraged the railways to add more coaches to the trains being operated in the Chennai-Velachery MRTS (Mass Rapid Transit System) section and the Chennai Beach-Chengelpet section during peak hours.Eighteen Electrical Multiple Unit (EMU) trains each in Chennai Beach-Velachery and Velachery-Chennai Beach section will be made into nine-car rakes as against the existing sixcar rakes, while nine EMUs each in Chennai Beach-Chengelpet to Chengelpet-Chennai Beach will be made into 12-car rakes.This section already has trains with 12-car rakes but the railways have increased the number of longer trains during peak hours in the section.The nine-car rake and 12-car rake trains are scheduled during peak hours to accommodate more commuters. More rakes were added to eight local trains.The suburban passengers grew from 34,56,564 in 2006-07 to 36,95,872 in 2007-08.