Train services remain unaffected in Chennai

On a day when government and private buses alike stayed off the roads, it was the trains that helped the public travel across the city and beyond.

Officials of the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) said that services would be restored in Chennai only from Wednesday morning.

Southern Railway officials said they operated 20 additional services on the Mass Rapid Transit System route between Chennai Beach and Velachery keeping in mind the increase in the number of people visiting Rajaji Hall, with Chintadripet being the nearest station.

Suburban services on all the three segments — South (to Tambaram and Chengalpattu); North (to Ennore and Gummidipoondi) and Northwest (to Tiruvallur and Arakkonam) — were operated as usual but the number of commuters recorded a sharp dip.

People travelling to Kerala and other destinations from the southern and western districts had to rely only on trains, and they were packed.

A few voluntary organisations operated free trips from Tirunelveli town to the peripheral areas after hiring tourist vehicles. People who reached Tirunelveli junction on Tuesday morning were at the mercy of auto and taxi drivers, who charged exorbitant fares.

Salem residents hopped on to passenger trains to reach Salem Market, Ayodhyapattanam and Minnampalli in the city limits too.

There were long queues of people were seen at the current ticket issuing counters in Salem junction and Town Railway station, and also in the major and small stations enroute.

In Tiruchi, there was not much movement of passengers in the city. Following the announcement of Jayalalithaa’s demise, people were standed in the terminus.

At Chathram bus stand in Tiruchi, a group of women athletes of Perambalur returning from Sriviliputhur after participating in a tournament were stranded around 1 a.m.

In Coimbatore, a couple of NGOs operated free trips from the city to the peripheral areas and outskirts by hiring tourist vehicles.

However, private vehicles plied as usual but with people deciding to remain indoors, roads wore a deserted look.