Chennai, Oct 30: Thousands of rail passengers in Chengalpattu – Chennai Beach route had a tough time in reaching their destinations today after a signal failure near Kattankulathur station caused trains to delay for nearly an hour.
Speaking to News Today, a senior Southern Railway official said, “The signal failure at Kattankulathur station was rectified in 40 minutes. Train services later resumed.” College and office-goers who live beyond Tambaram are dependent on these trains to reach the city and irregular timings and frequent disruptions have angered many.
Commuters allege that they reach their destinations very late, at least twice or thrice a week. “As trains arrive late, passengers who were to be accommodated in three trains board on one. This leads to suffocation inside the compartment. Also, with many forced to travel foot-board, they face the risk of falling down or getting hit by poles,” says Ramani, a regular user of EMU services at Urapakkam.
He also points out the death of a bunch of passengers who travelled foot-board last year resulting in the suspension of fast services for many months. “Due to no fault of us, tens of thousands of passengers suffered without fast trains, which are out lifeline. They were finally resumed only a few months ago. We don’t want another such situation again,” he adds.
However, Southern Railway officials say it happens due to maintenance work. Commuters were recently affected when the railway authorities carried out maintenance work on week days. According to a press release issued on 23 October, line/power block was permitted between Chennai, Egmore, and Villupuram Section while track maintenance was conducted.
“It is always difficult to commute from Chengalpattu as timings are very unreliable,” says Raja Sekar, a passenger. “People can’t depend on buses, as they have lesser frequency and the ticket fares are high.” Commuters in Chengalpattu-Beach section are hoping to have smooth travel like their peers up to Tambaram.