MRTS calls off service as precautionary step

Nearly 500 commuters who arrived at Velachery MRTS on Monday morning were stranded after the southern railway suspended services from 9.40 am as a precautionary measure after protests spilled on to the roads. While Metro services were also affected, the MMC-Arakkonam-Tiruttani and Beach-Tambaram route suburban trains plied as usual. 

A senior railway police official said, “After assessing the current law and order situation, the city police requested the southern railway headquarters to suspend the MRTS and the southern railway withdrew the services. At many suburban stations, groups of protesters had gathered for an agitation, but they were stopped by the police. At the Light House station, an unidentified person hurled a stone at the MRTS train. This compelled the trains services to be cancelled for the day.” 

The official added that the absence of mobility would have helped the police maintain law and order. Initially, the announcement was that the trains were cancelled for two hours, which was later extended to four hours before the service was completely suspended until the Divisional Railway Manager made an announcement.    

Uma Maheswari, a commuter said, “I bought a ticket at 9.15 am on my way to office, which is in Mylapore. By 9.40 am, the announcement was made that the trains were cancelled for two hours. So, all the commuters were forced to look for other modes of transport to reach their respective offices.”  Most of the commuters left the station to take trains from Guindy and St Thomas Mount. Some of the commuters gathered outside the Station Master’s room trying to convince him to resume the services but in vain.

On January 23 morning turned out to be chaotic for office-goers who were stuck on blocked roads and due to traffic snarls, owing to protesters, who blocked the roads across the city. For Akansha, an MNC employee travelling to Mount Road from Saidapet, it turned out to be more traumatic than usual. Taking a detour from her house on Jones Road, she was stuck for more than two hours before she returned home tired. “My employer told me I could work from home but returning was just impossible. I waited in the auto rickshaw for more than 45 minutes, but had to walk back home half way because the traffic to office was heavy and impossible to navigate,” she said. Similarly, Rajesh Sampathkumar, Business Strategy and Data Analytics Professional, working on OMR, took three hours to reach office from his residence.