Rail stop at Maduranthagam on Friday

Chennai: Angered by EMU trains not being operated as per schedule, passengers staged a rail roko at Maduranthgam railway station on Friday.

On Friday morning, passengers were waiting at Maduranthagam railway station to board the EMU train from Villupuram to Tambaram via Chengalpattu.

The train was to reach Maduranthagam at 6.40 am but it reached only at 7.05 am. Due to this the passengers got angry and demonstrated Rail Roko at the railway station.

At the same time, the Chennai Egmore-Madurai Tejas Super Fast Express reached Maduranthagam and hundreds of passengers stopped the express train and protested against the Railways for not following the schedule properly.

He claimed that trains are not operating as per schedule every day and due to this many of them get late for work and college students are not able to reach classes on time. Railway passengers said that if the Railways cannot follow the schedule then why does it issue the schedule and ask us to follow it.

Trains get delayed by up to 30 minutes every day during morning and evening peak hours and people are forced to travel on footboards due to operational delays.

Maduranthagam railway officials, Chengalpattu railway police and revenue officials who visited the spot held peace talks with the protesters and said that trains were operated at a slow speed due to fog and assured that there would be no such delays hereafter. Trains will run on time most of the time. After this the passengers gave up their protest and dispersed.

Train services between Maduranthagam and Chengalpattu were affected for an hour following the protest.