Cyclone Vardah hits traveller's plans

COIMBATORE: Cyclone Vardah has jeopardized air and train passengers' travel plans from and to city on Monday. While the Chennai International Airport closed its operations from morning, train services to and from Chennai were closed till late Monday night.
Many passengers' hope that flights and trains will be rescheduled after the cyclone was dashed as Chennai International Airport didn't resume operations till midnight and many trains were either cancelled or delayed.
"Our flight was scheduled for 7pm from Chennai to Coimbatore. Since it was scheduled almost two hours after the landfall we thought it would take-off," says A J Balamurugan, who had travelled to Chennai to attend a meeting organized by the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India. "We kept getting messages stating that the flight has been delayed and it has recently been postponed to 11pm. But the airport is still shutdown," he says.
A large number of people who travelled to Coimbatore for weddings, with December 9 being the last muhurtham date and planned to return to work in Chennai on Monday morning, found themselves receiving messages from 6am about their flights being delayed or cancelled.
"My four friends and I work with a social media marketing company. Our flight was scheduled at 7.45am. We booked our tickets two weeks ago. But from early this morning, we began getting messages of the flight getting delayed and eventually cancelled," says Rohita Vaid, who has now resigned herself for paying for another night in a hotel room.
While flight operators kept their passengers informed through SMS and recorded phone calls, train passengers found themselves stranded.
While the Chennai Central-Coimbatore Cheran Express was cancelled, many trains like the Alleppey-Dhanbad/Bokaro train were diverted via Katpadi and skipped Chennai Central. The Trivandrum-Korba Express and Gorakhpur-Trivandrum Express were also made to follow the same route.
Passengers of the Mettupalayam-Chennai Nilgiri Express had to spend two hours on platform as the timing of the train has been postponed from 9.15pm to 11.30pm. The Chennai-Central-Palani Express and Chennai Central-Erode Express were delayed by around two hours.
"Though they have said the train will depart I am starting to lose hope," said R Chandiran, a financier who has a ticket on the Nilgiri Express. "I am seriously considering going home and taking a flight tomorrow," he said after waiting at the station for more than one-and-half hours.