Cancelled trains leave travellers stranded at Central

The worst aspect of the flood that has hit Chennai is unfolding outside Chennai Central Station. Hundreds of passengers have been stranded outside it for days, with no access to food, water nor shelter. Women and children have been forced to sleep outside, completely at the mercy of a menacing sky.

Kamla Devi, a resident of Kolkata, says that they were told on Monday morning that their train had been cancelled. “We have been waiting outside the station with two children, and we have no clue what to do as there is no news about alternative arrangements,” she says.

Most of the passengers are migrant workers from north India who usually travel in the general compartment and are therefore not allowed to wait inside the main concourse. Their travails are particularly acute. “The police chase us out if we try to go in,” says Raju Prasad, a worker from Erode, who came to Egmore station on Monday and was scheduled to take another train to Assam, but came to know that the train had been cancelled. He then brought his family to the Central station on Monday afternoon, hoping to find another way to go home. “I had booked my tickets a month in advance for my family of 14 to go back home for a holiday. We have no information and no one is giving us clear answers. We don’t know how long we are expected to stay here,” he adds. 

Most of these passengers were seen waiting around the suburban railway station premises. “I have been waiting here for three days. I work here and booked a ticket on Saturday for Howrah, which later got cancelled. We have been waiting here all through Sunday while it rained. Since we are not allowed inside, we are sleeping with our luggage on the road. When it rains, we rush with our belongings to find refuge. We have been running in and out for three days,” says Mohammed Roni, a construction worker in Chennai, who decided to leave the city because of lack of employment opportunities.

Most daily-wage workers were out of work during the rains. We are struggling for food cannot pay the rent. Since we were not able to send any money home, we decided to return home, but there are no trains. We have to buy food and even water for the toilet,” says Suresh, a passenger bound for Odisha.