CHENNAI: Hundreds of office-goers and other daily commuters faced inconvenience on Tuesday as the railways cancelled 53 suburban trains in the Beach - Chengalpattu section for five hours. Long-distance travellers scheduled to board trains at Central, Egmore and Tambaram were forced to employ cabs and other modes of transportation.
About 5.5 lakh passengers use 265 services in this section. The services were cancelled to facilitate engineering work at St Thomas Mount, between 10.45 am and 3.45 pm. The work involves placing girders on the elevated railway line to extend the MRT S line from Velachery to St Thomas Mount.
As a result of the work, Beach, Park, Egmore, Nungambakkam, Guindy, St Thomas Mount, Pallavaram, and Tambaram stations were overcrowded. In the Tambaram - Chengalpattu stretch alone, eight pairs of special services were operated.
A railway official said resources for the nature of work planned at St Thomas Mount station can only be sourced during a working day. “Only under inevitable conditions, the railways allow line blocks that lead to the cancellation of trains.”
To accommodate passengers, CMRL had run extra services. K Rajesh, who had booked tickets to Ahmedabad, said, “I had to spend Rs 600 for a cab for a drop to Central from Guduvancheri.” A statement from the railways said on Tuesday, three steel girders that run across the existing lines in the Egmore- Tambaram section were successfully launched at St Thomas Mount yard.
These girders will form the base for the railway line connecting the St Thomas Mount MRT S station. From Wednesday till Friday, nine suburban services will remain cancelled between 10.55 pm and 2.55 am, to facilitate the remaining work. Three express trains will be partially cancelled between Egmore and Tambaram and one express train will be diverted.