The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Trained to handle them all

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Sep 23, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Trained to handle them all

Sandhya Soman

LEFT IN THE LURCH: Passengers of cancelled north-bound trains wait at Central Railway Station on Thursday afternoon. — Photo: V. Ganesan

CHENNAI: The Central Station handles it all: stranded passengers, non-stop queries, cancellations and refunds.

On Thursday, Southern Railway cancelled five trains after floodwaters breached rail lines between Vijayawada towards Kazipet and Visakhapatnam two days ago. Passengers bound for north India were stranded at the station.

Raghunath, Sunil Paswan and others took a train from Kanyakumari to Chennai after their direct train to Pune was cancelled on Wednesday. "We have to go to Samastipur (Bihar) from Pune. We've been waiting since 8 a.m.," said Raghunath, who had stretched out with his luggage for a headrest.

The group found time to calm down anxious family members but found it difficult to get answers from the enquiry counter. "They don't know Hindi. We don't know English," said Sunil.

However, personnel at the passenger care counter and two information desks briskly handled the anxious, irritated and confused passengers in Hindi, English and Telugu. "The enquiries are non-stop. We are unable to tell them for sure when the services will be fully restored," said an official. "When will the Howrah Mail leave?" an elderly gentleman wanted to know. "They are restoring the lines. As soon as it is over, we will operate the rakes," was the reply.

While the line for Howrah was being restored, the Jammu Tawi Express, the Howrah-Coromandel Express, the Dhanbad Express, the Charminar Express and the weekly Visakhapatnam special were cancelled.

Vikranth Jesudas alleged that personnel at the Mambalam station enquiry counter "misled" him, saying that Charminar would run on Thursday.

"I booked the tickets in the morning after checking because I got a new job in Hyderabad. I have to join immediately. Now they say it has been cancelled," he said before rushing to call up his employers.

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