The Hindu : Front Page : Track flooding forces cancellation of all trains leaving Central

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Oct 28, 2005

Front Page

Front Page

Track flooding forces cancellation of all trains leaving Central

S. Vydhianathan

Restoration of services only after review on Friday morning, says Railway

LEFT IN THE LURCH: Stranded passengers at Chennai Central. — Photo : M. Vedhan

CHENNAI: Train services were crippled on Thursday following heavy rains and the flooding of tracks.

All trains originating from Chennai Central have been cancelled till Friday afternoon. Restoration of services thereafter will be considered after the situation is reviewed on Friday morning.

Southern Railway General Manager Thomas Varghese told The Hindu on Thursday that the tracks near Basin Bridge were under two feet of water.

Incoming Southern Railway trains scheduled to arrive at Central on Friday morning were also cancelled . After consulting the Railway Board, the zone has decided to regulate the trains scheduled to arrive at Central on Friday from other zones.

Four high-powered motors were being deployed to pump out water from the tracks, but the work was hampered by the continuing dowpour.

Mr. Varghese has appealed to passengers to avoid train travel till normalcy was restored.

Officials here said that except the Mumbai Mail, Howrah Mail, the Alleppey-bound Bokaro Express and the Howrah-Thiruvananthapuram Express, all other incoming trains had been detained at various stations. The stranded passengers were being brought to Chennai by special buses and provided food pockets.

Special counters have been opened at Chennai Central to give full refund to passengers following the cancellations. The situation was a little better at Chennai Egmore, where authorities managed to accommodate incoming express trains from the south.

There was, however, some delay in the departure of the Chennai Egmore-Guruvayur Express and the Madurai-bound Vaigai Express.

The worst affected were suburban commuters as EMU services on the Chennai Beach-Tambaram, Chennai Central-Arakkonam, Central-Gummidipoondi sections and MRTS sections could not be operated.

Only skeletal services were operated between Beach and Arakkonam and Beach and Gummidipoondi. On the Beach-Tambaram section a compound wall partially collapsed on the track near Chennai Fort and a tree fell on the suburban track near Kodambakkam and Chromepet forcing authorities to suspend services. MRTS services were restored after 3 p.m.

Computerised reservation was affected as water seeped into the mainframe computer at the Moore Market Complex of Southern Railway.

It was restored briefly around 3 p.m. but failed again. Officials said they hoped to restore the system by Friday.

Special information counters have been opened to provide information to passengers on 55477783/84/85.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page

News Update

Stories in this Section