Egmore station maintenance work: Passengers affected as suburban trains are delayed

Tamil Nadu: It has been announced that suburban electric train services will be reduced due to maintenance work at Egmore Railway Station. Furthermore, there have been complaints that passengers are facing inconvenience due to delays in travel time.

Renovation work at Chennai Egmore Railway Station is underway at a cost of ₹820 crore (₹820 crore) starting in 2024. As part of this, work has been underway on platforms 10 and 11, where suburban electric trains operate, and on the tracks since the 20th. Consequently, suburban electric trains operate from platforms 5 and 6.

There used to be 204 electric train services daily from the Coastal Railway Station to Tambaram and Chengalpattu stations via Egmore. Due to the development work at Egmore Railway Station, there are waiting times for signals to cross the tracks at two points: Coastal-Egmore and Egmore-Chettupattu. Due to this, the speed of trains, which normally runs at 55 km per hour, has dropped to 15 km. Passengers say that it takes about 20 minutes to cross Chettupattu from Egmore station due to signal waiting.

Due to this, passengers traveling from Chengalpattu and Tambaram to Park Nagar and Beach stations have been facing significant inconvenience for the past four days. Railway officials stated that special buses are being operated from Egmore and Chettupattu stations to alleviate passenger inconvenience.

Meanwhile, the railway administration has announced that it will reduce train services to 69 to address train delays and traffic congestion. Passengers say this announcement is causing them significant inconvenience.

A large number of people travel in the Tambaram-Chengalpattu and Tambaram-Kadakarai station areas every morning. The current shortage of electric trains has affected them.

Meanwhile, it has been announced that changes have been made to electric train services, and accordingly, electric trains from Gummidipoondi to Tambaram will run on the Chengalpattu-Tambaram route.

Officials also stated that Tirumalapur-Arakkonam and Chennai Beach-Arakkonam trains will stop at Parangimalai; Chengalpattu-Chennai Express trains will also stop at Parangimalai; and electric trains will run in two directions from Egmore to Parangimalai, Kuduvancheri, and Chengalpattu stations.

Southern Railway officials said this change has significantly reduced the inconvenience faced by passengers on Tuesday.