CHENNAI: Hundreds of rail passengers staged a protest on the tracks at Wimco Nagar station around 3.30 pm on Wednesday, alleging delay in train operations in the Chennai-Gummidipoondi section. The protest continued for around 40 minutes before Government Railway Police and the Railway Protection Force personnel intervened and pacified the agitators.
The passengers who picketed the railway tracks said though the railways had frequently cancelled train services in the section citing track maintenance, there had been no such announcement for Wednesday. They also alleged no train had departed from Wimco Nagar towards Gummidipoondi for nearly 75 minutes.
“For the past two years, train services have been gradually reduced. Despite the rising demand, the railways have not only cut down services but have also failed to operate the scheduled ones,” said the protestors.
During the protest, they blocked a Chennai Central-bound train at Wimco Nagar, demanding a service towards Gummidipoondi. Meanwhile, when another train heading to Gummidipoondi approached from the opposite direction, protesters held up the train for 15 minutes before finally boarding it.
Railway officials attributed the disruption to a signal issue at Thiruvottiyur station, which caused delays in clearing trains bound for Gummidipoondi.
