People struggle to reach home from railway stn

People struggle to reach home from railway stn

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:26.04.2021

The first Sunday shutdown left stranded people who arrived in the city by early morning trains at Egmore and Central. They came out to deserted roads, with hardly any cabs or autorickshaws in sight. The few drivers around kept an eye out for the cops.

At Egmore railway station, families were seen waiting with bags at around 7.45am. There were no autos available at the pre-paid counter. People who had to go to Sowcarpet managed to get some vehicles arranged by their relatives after a wait of around half an hour. Some people who had to go to Ekkattuthangal were seen bargaining with a few auto drivers who were hesitating to drop them fearing police crackdown.

A TOI photojournalist saw around 15 groups of people including families waiting outside the station for vehicles. A few who lived nearby decided to walk. A woman and two children waiting with heavy bags said "We are coming from Madurai and expected autos to be available at the pre-paid counter.” The woman said she had called her husband who would bring his motorcycle and was try to arrange another vehicle. The three finally had to travel on the bike with bags after they could not arrange another vehicle.

A few autos that drove by quoted exorbitant fares while a few others refused to ride. "I do not want to take a risk because I do not have an excuse to tell the police when I return after dropping the passengers,” said an auto driver.

A railway official said, “We have asked the state government to exempt vehicles coming to the railway stations from the restrictions.”

The official said there was a shortage only early in the morning and that autos and cabs were available at Egmore and Central later in the day.

STRANDED: People wait for transport with their luggage outside MGR Central railway station

Metro and suburban train services ease travel woes

Chennai:

Metro rail and suburban train services came in handy for commuters who had to travel for emergency purposes on Sunday when buses, autos and cabs stayed off the roads during the complete lockdown.

Chennai Metro Rail Ltd (CMRL) operated trains every one hour, while suburban trains ran every two hours so that medical professionals, paramedical staff, Greater Chennai Corporation staff and other frontline workers could travel. T K Pandian, a regular commuter, said people working in hospitals and in restaurants were mostly found taking the train. “But the footfalls were less. I could see only a handful of people in the station at Anna Nagar Tower in the evening,” he said.

A few metro stations received 50 to 70 people through the day, while suburban trains had some more people as railway staff too used the trains to come to work apart from health services staff.

Railways has scaled down the number of suburban services and have been running around 459 services per day instead of the 700 trains due to the restrictions announced by the state government. But will be adding more trains following demand on weekdays. Railways will add around 21 suburban trains on different routes from Monday to Saturday. An additional train has been added in the coming days on Avadi-Tiruvallur, Avadi-Arakkonam, MMC-Avadi, MMC-Arakkonam, Chennai Beach-Tiruvallur, MMC-Tiruvallur, Arakkonam-Chennai Beach, Avadi-MMC and Tiruvallur-MMC routes. Five trains have been added to the Chennai Beach-Avadi route, three to Avadi-Chennai Beach, and two each on Tiruvallur-Chennai Beach and Tiruvallur-Avadi. TNN