CHENNAI: Rail passengers who cancelled travel owing to last-minute partial cancellation of trains in Chennai - Katpadi - Jolarepttai section on Sunday had a harrowing time to get refund for the tickets.
To facilitate engineering works at diamond crossings at Melpakkam yard near Arakkonam, Southern Railway partially cancelled five trains between Jolarpettai and Arakkonam and short terminated six express trains between Jolarpettai and Katpadi on Sunday. While many booked tickets at least two to three months in advance, the railways informed about the partial cancellation hardly two to three days earlier through text alerts. To their surprise, passengers who tried to cancel the tickets were asked to travel to train originating stations to submit tickets for refund.
K Baskar, Member of Divisional Rail Users Consultative Committee’s, Chennai, said he booked the ticket to travel from Arakkonam to Bengaluru by Lalbagh Express on Sunday. “As the train departure shifted from Chennai to Sholingur, I cancelled the trip as there was no other mode of transport to reach Sholingur. When I submitted the ticket at Salem for cancellation, I was asked to go to Arakkonam.”
“If railways partially cancels trains at short notice, it should also accept cancellation request from other stations,” he said.
Many passengers who booked tickets in Thiruvananthapuram mail cancelled their trips since the train was partially cancelled between Chennai and Jolarpettai.