Ticketless youth occupy reserved seats, commuters protest

CHENNAI: The rail commuters staged a protest in Chengalpattu Railway station on Tuesday after the reserved seats of the Howrah Express train were occupied by youngsters from the Northern states.

The West Bengal-Kanyakumari train goes via Chennai Egmore and Chengalpattu Junction once a week. On Tuesday 9 pm, the train departed from Egmore.

Police sources said youngsters from northern states, who had bought tickets for unreserved compartments, occupied the seats in the reversed coaches and did not allow people who had already booked their tickets to take their seats.

When the train reached Tambaram, many people boarded the train and asked the youngsters to go to their coaches, but they started to argue with commuters, and a few started to abuse the women. The commuters informed the TTR and the Railway police who were on duty in the station but no action was taken.

After the train reached Chengalpattu station, hundreds of commuters alighted, and started to protest on the platform. However, the loco pilot tried to move the train from the platform, but they pulled an emergency chain and stopped the train.

Later, the Railway police and higher officials who visited the spot talked to the passengers. They went inside the compartment and checked the tickets of all passengers. Those who were travelling without tickets were deboarded from train.

The train left Chengalpattu railway station at 11.30 pm with a delay of one hour.

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