Southern Railway cancels over 30 Sunday local trains disrupting travel to T Nagar

On Sunday, the cancellation of over 30 local trains by Southern Railway between 11 am and 3 pm disrupted travel plans for numerous commuters heading to different parts of Chennai, including those planning to shop in the T Nagar commercial hub. The cancellations, which were due to scheduled maintenance work, affected the Chennai Beach-Tambaram and Chennai Egmore-Villupuram sections.

The four-hour maintenance window resulted in a total lack of train services operating between Tambaram and Chennai Beach. This caused significant inconvenience to passengers, marking the second consecutive Sunday that local train commuters in the region faced major disruptions.

A large number of people had gathered at the Tambaram station on Sunday morning, intending to spend their holiday traveling across the city. Many of these commuters were heading to the T Nagar commercial hub for weekend shopping but found themselves stranded due to the sudden lack of services.

Several passengers stated they were entirely unaware of the planned cancellations. They suggested that the railway authorities could have pasted a prominent physical notice in front of the Tambaram railway station to alert the public beforehand.

Faced with the suspension of train services, passengers were forced to find alternative transport. This led to heavily crowded bus stops along GST Road, particularly at the Tambaram bus stop, as commuters rushed to board local bus services.

To mitigate the impact, Southern Railway did operate some special trains from Tambaram to Chengalpattu, Arakkonam, and Thirumalpur, as well as in the reverse directions. However, these services did not resolve the issue for those needing to travel on the key route between Tambaram and Chennai Beach.

Southern Railway had previously issued press releases on July 3 and July 11 to announce modifications to train timings and the cancellation of specific services. Despite these announcements, the lack of local awareness on the ground led to widespread disruption for Sunday commuters.