CHENNAI: Thousands of rail passengers faced severe hardship on Friday on the Chennai Beach-Chengalpattu suburban section as train services were delayed by 30 to 40 minutes throughout the day after operation of local trains was shifted from fast lines to slow lines at Chennai Egmore railway station. In addition, the reduction in services led to extreme overcrowding on platforms at major stations, including Tambaram, Pallavaram, St Thomas Mount, Guindy, Kodambakkam, Chetpet, Park, and Chennai Beach.
The disruption and delays in train services were primarily caused by the diversion of trains from the slow lines to the fast lines between Park and Egmore, and then back from the fast lines to the slow lines between Chennai Egmore and Chetpet in both directions.
Passengers voiced strong displeasure, describing the situation as poor planning. However, the Southern Railway Chennai Division stated that it had operated the maximum possible number of services after considering all operational constraints.
In an official statement, the Southern Railway Chennai Division expressed regret for the inconvenience caused, and appealed to passengers to plan their journeys in advance and extend their cooperation.
Owing to maintenance work at Egmore station, suburban services were shifted from slow-line platforms 10 and 11 to fast-line platforms 5 and 6. Consequently, trains arriving from Park station originally assigned for platform 10 were diverted to platform 4. From there, they had to cross six tracks between Chennai Egmore and Chetpet to rejoin the slow line at Chetpet.
Similarly, trains running from Tambaram towards Chennai Beach underwent the same operational adjustments. In addition, express trains were also routed through the fast lines, further causing disruption and contributing to delays, according to railway officials.
The total number of services on the section has been reduced from 204 to 160 between February 20 and April 5 to facilitate redevelopment work at Egmore station. Suburban trains were backed up one after another between Beach and Kodambakkam due to delays caused by repeated shifting between fast and slow lines in the Chetpet-Egmore stretch. Amid the disruption, hundreds of passengers reportedly disembarked and walked along the tracks to reach their destinations.
S Rajaram, a resident of Tambaram, said, “The train that left around 8 am reached Chetpet at 8.35 am, but did not move for nearly 30 minutes. I got down, walked to Egmore, and booked a cab from there.”
Another commuter, K Varatharajan, a private bank employee working in Broadway, said, “It took nearly 50 minutes to reach Chennai Beach from Egmore. The train was stopped at every signal from Chetpet onwards. The railways has poorly planned these operational changes. I wonder how it will be for the next 40 days.”