Chennai: Having in mind the Deepavali rush and the Covid-19 situation, the State Transport department and Southern Railway are working out plans to run additional services with safety measures.
The Southern Railway will be running six special trains within the State and to other parts of the country as part of festival season to clear the extra rush of passengers.
The superfast tri-weekly special train from Dr MGR Chennai Central to Madurai will be operated from 19 October with the train set to return from Madurai on 20 October.
A Shatabdi special train between Chennai and Coimbatore would be operated for six days, except on Tuesday. The services would begin from Chennai on 19 October.
As far as buses are concerned, since over 75 per cent of commuters travel without reservation during festival seasons, Transport officials have advised commuters to reserve bus or train tickets at the earliest.
Besides operating special buses, the government is also planning to allow private operators to run more services.