Thousands of passenger were stranded at the Chennai Central railway station on Saturday night due to the delay in the remodelling work at the Arakkonam yard by the Southern Railways.
The passengers who were put to hardships thronged the Station Manager’s office demanding compensation, refunds and bookings in alternate trains.
As the passengers were confused and became impatient the railway policemen had to intervene and calm things down.
“We were supposed to catch our train at 2.30 p.m. today [May 5] but we have been waiting for over 10 hours now,” said Shanti, who with her sister had booked a train to Bangalore which later got cancelled.
“We understand their emotions, but we can’t do much about it. They must cooperate instead of screaming at the officials,” one of the policemen said.
Eventually the passengers began dispersing.
As the trains were delayed passengers decided to stay put at nearby hotels or to catch other trains which were heading towards their destination. While they used the same train tickets to board the other trains reaching their destination, they were not provided with reserved seats.
"We were told that the remodelling would be over by Saturday, we didn't expect this delay either," said a railway official.
"I am going to speak with officers at the Railway Divisional Headquarters, they must at least partly reimburse our ticket fare," said Prabhu Raja, who with his family of seven were heading to Bangalore for holidays.
According to the railway officials, five trains, including Mangalore Express, Arakkonam fast passenger train, Bangalore Express and Kovai Intercity, were cancelled and seven trains, including Bangalore-bound Shatabdi and Mangalore Mail, were delayed and rescheduled by at least four hours.
The Railway authorities have also announced that all trains passing via Arakkonam on Sunday stands cancelled.
