CHENNAI: What should have been a routine one-hour commute stretched into hours of ordeal for thousands of suburban rail passengers on Friday, with several trains stalled between stations and commuters forced to walk along tracks, amid curtailed EMU services and a signal malfunction on the Chennai Beach-Tambaram-Chengalpattu section.
Long waits, crowded platforms and packed coaches marked the day’s commute. The disruption began in the early hours after a signal malfunction near Tambaram slowed and halted services, leaving trains stranded between stations. With little clarity on delays, many passengers walked along the tracks towards nearby stations. Though the signal issue was rectified around 9 am, the disruption had a ripple effect through the day.
Several commuters said they were stuck on trains for more than three hours. Sridhar, who travels daily from Pallavaram to Egmore, said his usual 50-minute commute turned into a three-hour slog. “I boarded an EMU at Pallavaram around 12.30 pm and reached Egmore only at 3.50 pm. The train was halted between Nungambakkam and Chetpet for a long time. I got down, walked along the tracks to Chetpet, boarded another stranded train there and finally reached Egmore,” he said.
Women commuters complained of acute overcrowding. “The number of ladies’ coaches has been reduced to one, with the rest converted into first class. I was in a jam-packed coach, and it was suffocating,” said a commuter.
With suburban operations at Egmore shifting from platforms 10 and 11 to platforms 5 and 6 due to redevelopment works, EMU services on the Chennai Beach-Tambaram-Chengalpattu section have been reduced from 204 to 164 between February 20 and April 5. The Beach-Tambaram stretch is the worst-affected, with down services cut from 47 to 25 and up services from 47 to 17.
On Beach-Chengalpattu section, the down services have fallen from around 36 to 30, and up services from 36 to 33. In addition, 11 services in each direction have been short-terminated at Egmore.
Passengers said that the actual frequency was worse than what was announced. Regular commuters reported gaps of nearly an hour between trains during some time slots. “If I miss the 5.10 pm train, the next one is only at 6.10 pm. There is no option. If one train is missed, we’re stuck,” lamented Saravanan (54), who commutes daily from Egmore to Chromepet. “Elderly passengers are suffering. The crowd keeps increasing and we do not know how we’ll reach home.”
Passengers were stranded at many stations, including Tambaram, Chromepet, Pallavaram, Palavanthangal, St Thomas Mount and Guindy. With Friday being both a working day and an auspicious muhurtham day, the footfall was higher than usual, compounding the chaos for office-goers, students and general public.
The RPF personnel and railway police struggled to manage the swelling crowds. At Egmore, railway staff urged commuters to consider alternate modes of transport. Many shifted to buses and Metro services, while others waited for delayed trains.
Following criticism, the Chennai Division Railways expressed regret over the inconvenience and appealed to passengers to plan their travel in advance. In a statement, the Railways said, “EMUs earlier operated on dedicated suburban platforms at speeds of up to 55 km/h with simultaneous reception and dispatch. However, operations from Platforms 5 and 6 do not offer similar flexibility, with movements restricted to around 15 km/h. As mail, express and suburban services now share tracks at entry and exit points at Egmore, delays may occur.”
The statement mentioned that efforts were being made to run services as efficiently as possible while balancing the needs of long-distance and daily commuters. It requested the city transport agencies to operate shuttle bus services between Chetpet and Beach stations, and to increase Metro train frequency to ease the commute for office-goers, students and the general public.