Suburban commuters on their way to work were an agitated lot at Egmore railway station on Monday morning, as they had to wait longer than usual to get tickets for their journey towards Chengalpattu.
Sources said commuters complained that only two of the four ticket counters were functioning.
Southern Railway officials said the delay was caused as one of the ticket printing machines was not functioning. They added that as it was rush hour on Monday, there was a long queue of suburban commuters, a number of them waiting to board suburban trains towards Tambaram and Chengalpattu.
A section of the commuters picked up an argument with the staff on duty at the ticket counters, but were soon pacified.
Sources said the number of travellers swelled up on Monday morning, with people arriving at Egmore on long-distance trains from southern districts as well as from places outside Tamil Nadu. The wait for tickets normally tended to get longer during the weekends and Monday mornings, not just in Egmore, but at other important stations on the suburban route, too, the officials added.
