CHENNAI: With torrential rain lashing Chennai, the public transport system including suburban services and MTC bus service were completely disrupted on Saturday. The MTC services were either cancelled or diverted throughout the day due to waterlogging on the bus routes, forcing commuters to spend large sums on cabs and auto rickshaws.
The MRTS services were completely suspended between Chennai Beach and Velachery due to strong winds, and the Chennai-Jolarpettai daily express trains were cancelled in both directions. As the state government on Friday had warned against public gathering and transportation for non-emergency purposes, in view of the cyclone landfall, bus stops and stations witnessed limited crowd on Saturday.
According to the Chennai Railway Division, the suburban trains were not cancelled, but were irregular and delayed by 30-40 minutes in every section. The time gap between two trains was also increased due to safety concerns. In several places on the Chennai-Avadi section, local trains were operated at a speed of 10-30 km/h due to inundated tracks, causing significant delays. As a result, hundreds of commuters were stranded at the stations for a few hours on the Chennai Beach-Chengalpattu, Chennai-Arakkonam and Chennai-Gummidipundi routes.
Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Transport Corporation diverted buses away from waterlogged subways, and buses from Avadi, Ambattur, and other areas were short-terminated at CMBT. Bus services on flooded roads throughout the city were also suspended. The Chennai Central-bound express trains from Mangaluru, Coimbatore, Bengaluru, Mumbai and other places were short terminated at Tiruvallur, Avadi and other stations.
Further, a few other trains also got diverted to Chennai beach, while several express trains from the northern parts of the country were diverted via Perambur skipping the stoppage at Chennai Central.
Similarly, bus services were diverted on Jawaharlal Nehru Road, EVR Periyar Road, Rajiv Gandhi Salai, LB Road, MTH Road, and several other locations.