Thousands of commuters stranded as Chennai’s suburban train station platforms remain packed on day 4

Chennai: Thousands of commuters who rely on Chennai's suburban trains faced long waits and packed platforms for the fourth straight day on Monday after Southern Railway cancelled 44 local services, disrupting travel on the heavily used corridor linking Beach, Tambaram and Chengalpet.Commuters said the cuts turned what was a frequent, predictable service into a daily test of patience and safety. Until recently, trains on the section typically arrived every 7 to 12 minutes; since the cancellations began, commuters said the gap widened to about 25 to 30 minutes, with some platforms seeing waits of more than 40 minutes.
On Monday, at Nungambakkam, Mambalam and Guindy stations, large crowds gathered well before scheduled arrivals. "I missed my first-hour attendance on Friday, Saturday and Monday," said Arun Selvan, a student at Loyola College. "I board the train at Vandalur every day at 6.45am, reach Nungambakkam by 7.45am, and reach college in time for the first hour at 8.15am. Since Friday, I was not able to board the train before 7.30am. I reach college only around 9am," he said.A Chengalpet-bound local that reached a station after a 40-minute gap was overflowing when it pulled in, including in the first-class coach. Students and office workers pressed into the compartments, "raising fears of falls" and "stampede-like conditions" during boarding, passengers said.Chennai railway division cut the daily suburban schedule on Beach–Chengalpet route to 164 trains from 204. The revised plan took effect on Feb 20 and is set to continue until Apr 5 to facilitate redevelopment work at Egmore.Trial runs run by Southern Railway on Saturday and Sunday showed trains had to cross five main lines to access platforms 5 and 6 at Egmore, causing delays. Southern Railway's chief PRO, Senthamil Selvan, said trains also slowed near Chetpet and Park stations as part of a safety measure. "Railways is planning to operate more shuttle services between Guduvanchery and St Thomas Mount, allowing commuters to reach the city and shift to metro rail for onward travel," he said.Commuters questioned both the planning and timing. Dayanand Krishnan, a resident-activist, said railways had years to extend platforms and could have used available space on the Poonamallee High Road side. "Why was an assessment and survey conducted? The work should have been scheduled for the summer, when schools and colleges break for vacation and ridership dips," he argued. MTC said it was operating 60 additional buses, supplementing regular services on routes serving Royapuram, Egmore, Nungambakkam, Tambaram, Guduvanchery and Chengalpet.