The buses of the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) plying between Tambaram and Broadway were packed on Sunday due to the cancellation of more than 44 suburban train services on the Chennai Beach-Tambaram section.
A senior official of the Chennai division of the Southern Railway said considering the coming summer months and prioritising the safety of train operations, line block work was taken up for more than five hours on the Chennai Beach-Tambaram section. As a result, train services were cancelled from 10 a.m. to 3.30 p.m.
Several works, such as checking rail joints, packing of ballasts, welding, and removing vegetation growing along the tracks, were carried out by a large number of railway employees. To facilitate this, 44 suburban train services on the section were cancelled. Anticipating the inconvenience to commuters, the Southern Railway had requested both the MTC and Metro Rail to operate additional services on Sunday, officials said.
Based on the request, additional bus services were operated on Grand Southern Trunk Road from Tambaram to Broadway and also to T. Nagar. Being a Sunday, a large number of people were expected to visit the commercial locality. Bus services were operated at 15-minute intervals as opposed to the normal weekend frequency of 30 minutes.
S. Manickam, a resident of West Tambaram, said most of the MTC buses, including those going to T. Nagar, were packed in the morning as most commuters came to know about the cancellation only after reaching the Tambaram railway station. Railway officials added that operations would revert to the usual schedule on Monday.
