CHENNAI: Poorly planned track maintenance at Melpakkam near Arakkonam has played spoiler for tour plans of thousands of rail passengers in Chennai and neighbouring districts.
The Southern Railway cancelled and short terminated 16 express trains in the Chennai - Katpadi section on Sunday to facilitate the engineering works at the diamond crossings at Melpakkam yard near Arakkonam. Much to their dismay, passengers were said to have been informed through text alerts to their mobile phones hardly two to three days before the travel day.
Passengers who booked their tickets from Chennai to Bengaluru, Mysuru and Ooty, were either forced to opt for other modes of transport or reschedule their plans for other days.
In particular, passengers who planned to travel with elders and kids, faced hardships as the Railways shifted train departure from Chennai to Sholingur/Katpadi/Jolarpettai stations for Chennai - Bengaluru Lalbagh Express, Chenani - Mysuru Express, Chennai - Coimbatore Intercity Express, Thiruvananthapuram mail and Mangaluru mail on Sunday.
“Eight of us planned to go to Mysuru for the summer vacation by Mysuru Express. The text alert received a couple of days back, stated that the train would depart from Sholingur instead of Puratchi Thalaivar Dr M G Ramachandran Central Railway Station. There was neither a local train nor direct bus to reach station. We have to cancel the trip,” said R Gnanarajan of Tambaram.
Besides, passengers who arrived from Mangaluru, Thiruvananthapuram, Coimbatore, Bengaluru and Mysuru also faced a lot of hardship as the train were short terminated at Katpadi and Sholingur.
Ritesh Rajan of Kodambakkam, who received his mother who travelled in the Thiruvananthapuram mail, said he underwent a lot of hardship as the train was short terminated at Jolarpettai. “My mother, a diabetic patient, was travelling alone from Thiruvananthapuram. She could not converse in Tamil comfortably and will not be able to go to the bus stand carrying heavy luggage. I travelled upto Jolarpettai to take her back to Chennai. Had I known the train will not run upto Chennai, I would have cancelled her trip,” narrated Rajan.
In addition, train connectivity in Vellore - Arakkonam came to a standstill as railways fully cancelled seven passenger trains in the section.
Followed by the completion of the Arakkonam - Thakkolam detour line, the railways had taken up engineering works at Melpakkam yard, which gets connected from the railway lines from Arakkonam, Tiruttani, Katpadi and Kancheepuram.
When contacted, a Railways official said cancellation of trains is inevitable as it would be infrastructure of the rail network in Chennai - Katpadi stretch. “We are planning to finish engineering works during holidays and some trains cannot be cancelled once schools and colleges reopen. And, some works can’t be postponed as it would risk the train operation,” explained the official.