CHENNAI: Thousands of passengers were stranded between Vyasarpadi and Basin Bridge for 45 minutes after five Express trains were detained. The incident occurred at 2.35 pm when an Express train shunted into Chennai Central station, and the overhead line on the track between Basin Bridge and Chennai Central was disconnected.
Sources say the overhead line was entangled with the pantograph (a device mounted on the roof of a train to receive power from the overhead line) of a loco, leading to the disconnection. An operational staff who spotted the incident alerted the railway officials. Passengers travelling by the Mangaluru-Chennai West Coast Express, Thiruvananthapuram Central-Chennai Central AC Express, Puri Chennai Central Weekly SF Express, Bengaluru-Chennai Lalbagh Express and Sulupetta Chennai Moore Market Complex MEMU had to bear the brunt of the delay.
The trains were stopped one after another from Basin Bridge to Vysarapadi railway stations. Many passengers could not use the toilets because the trains water tanks went empty, and many suffered without food. Chennai division railway officials carried out the repair works and restored the line by 3.30 pm.
Railway officials claimed that there was no delay in departure of EMU and Express trains from Chennai.