Protests derailed entire rail network in State

The protesters had such a tight grip of road traffic in southern districts, particularly temple town Madurai that SR had to hire private vehicles to move its train crew to Dindigul, Virudhu Nagar and Sivaganga. 

“Initially, we succeeded in using our own jeeps to transport train crews comprising a loco pilot, assistant loco pilot and guard from Madurai to relieve the stranded crew in Dindigul and Virudhu Nagar. Once the protesters started identifying and blocking our vehicles, we started hiring private vehicles to ensure smooth passage,” a senior SR officer requesting anonymity said, conceding that they also had to factor in crew and ticket examiners safety who had worked in the grip of fear, especially after a few unwanted elements started attacking the trains. 

Also, the unprecedented rise in workload at Dindigul and Virudhunagar among the adjoining towns were so enormous that SR had even opened temporary depots and mobilised staff from Villupuram, Tindivanam, Madurai and Trichy for operating trains at the neighbouring districts, especially Dindigul, which was the closest SR could operate trains to, from Madurai. 

Not to mention, several express trains, which originally run on electricity, had to hauled using diesel engines for want of engines and difficulties faced in moving electric engines from divisional headquarters. 

Another senior SR officer who felt that the state government had let them down by giving free hand to protesters to stop trains wondered how could the protests be called peaceful and non-violent if it involved blocking locomotives and in many cases even attacking and damaging them.