Commuters stranded for hours with EMU cancellations from Chennai Beach to Chengalpattu

CHENNAI: The full cancellation of EMU trains on Chennai Beach to Chengalpattu section from 7.45 am to 7.45 pm on Sunday due to engineering works in Egmore railway station left thousands of passengers stranded in many suburban stations.

Announcement regarding full cancellation came on Saturday evening and many passengers who came to the stations were unaware about it.

There were hundreds of commuters at the Park railway station who were bewildered at the barricades blocking the way to the platforms with the announcement of cancellations written on it.

“I had already booked the ticket using the Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS) app. I didn’t know about the cancellations. The app also didn’t show that the service was unavailable. Now, my ticket fare is also lost despite the cancellation,” fumed S Saravanan, a commuter at the Park station who regularly takes the train to Pallavaram.

Another commuter, Madhavi K, who came with her family from Ambattur said that the cancellations had caught them unawares. “Only when I reached here, I came to know about the train cancellations. To get a passenger train to Ambattur, I have to go till Egmore. It’s more difficult to change different trains with the kids,” she lamented.

Passenger special trains were operated from Egmore to Chengalpattu and returned in a time gap of 20-30 minutes. At the ticket counter in Egmore towards EVK Sampath Road, there was hundreds of passengers even during non-peak hours waiting to buy the ticket.

Lakshmi K, a passenger said, “I came from Manali to go to Tindivanam. I reached Egmore to board a train to Tambaram and from there, catch a MEMU to Villupuram. But when I reached here, I came to know about the cancellation of local trains. Usually, there is a train every 10 minutes. Now, I’m not sure whether I will be able to reach Tambaram on time and catch another train from there.”

In the Beach railway station, frustrated passengers were being informed by auto drivers outside about the cancellations. Soon, the station was deserted, but still, continuous announcements were made about the cancellations.

Southern Railway, in a statement, said that they had arranged passenger specials, and had also asked MTC to operate extra buses to compensate for the cancellations. There were boards in the stations about the cancellations.