CHENNAI: Transport and Electricity Minister Sivasankar on Tuesday criticised the Southern Railway for announcing track and platform maintenance works at Chennai Egmore from February 20 without prior coordination with the Metropolitan Transport Corporation, causing inconvenience to consumers.
In a statement, the minister said the Southern Railway issued the notice only on February 19 and did not share formal details with the corporation in advance. The MTC received information later through email after following up with railway officials.
He pointed out that while the revised timetable claimed suburban EMU services during peak hours would be operated every 20 minutes instead of every five minutes, trains were in fact running only at 30-minute intervals in both directions between Chennai Beach and Tambaram and Chengalpattu.
The Southern Railway has announced that the reduced schedule will remain in force from February 20 to April 5.
Sivasankar said the timing of the works was particularly disruptive as annual and term-end examinations in schools and colleges are held every March. He alleged that the works were taken up without consultation or adequate precautionary measures, and that students would face difficulties in attending preparatory classes and writing examinations on time.
To mitigate the disruption, the MTC has operated 60 additional special bus services on the affected corridors, over and above the 314 services already in operation. The feeder services connect Egmore with key destinations such as the Secretariat, Ezhilagam, Central, the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, the High Court, and Chennai Beach railway station.
The minister said that had the Southern Railway shared information in advance and held coordination meetings, measures could have been planned to minimise inconvenience to passengers.
Following the curtailment of suburban services, the MTC stepped up bus operations, after which the Southern Railway introduced short-distance suburban services from February 24 between Chengalpattu and Tambaram and between St Thomas Mount and Egmore.
Chief Minister MK Stalin has been monitoring the situation and has directed officials to ensure that arrangements are in place to enable passengers to travel without hardship, the minister said.