CHENNAI: Passengers travelling from southern districts to Chennai Egmore will face disruptions as several long-distance trains will be halted at intermediate stations like Tambaram, Mambalam and Chengalpet. Work on the fourth-line project between Chennai Beach and Egmore, scheduled between March 5 and March 9, will result in several trains being short-terminated, partially cancelled, diverted or rescheduled.
Express trains from Karaikudi, Mannargudi, Tirunelveli, Mandapam and Tuticorin will not reach Chennai Egmore as usual, forcing passengers to get down at Chengalpet and Tambaram. Similarly, some trains from Hyderabad and Puducherry will also face short-termination.
Apart from arrivals, departures for certain trains will also be shifted from Egmore to Tambaram and Chennai Beach. This includes trains heading to Madurai, Hyderabad, Rameswaram, and Puducherry.
Several services will also be diverted, skipping key stations such as Egmore, Tambaram and Chengalpet. Trains from Secunderabad, Kakinada, Kacheguda and Mandapam will now take alternative routes via Korukkupet, Perambur, Arakkonam and Kancheepuram. Additional stoppages have been arranged at Perambur and Beach to compensate for the missed stations.
Chennai-Tirunelveli Vande Bharat Express will be delayed by 15 minutes on March 6 and 7.
“The decision to terminate trains at Chengalpet will cause additional travel burdens, as the town is nearly two hours away from Chennai, and local train services are infrequent. Even MTC buses, which take an extra 20-30 minutes to reach Tambaram, stop at nearly 30 points en route, further delaying travel,” said B Ganesh, a resident-activist from Varadharajapuram.
This situation is worse for early morning arrivals, as express trains from southern districts mostly reach Chennai between 4am and 6am, a time when direct bus frequency from Chengalpet to Tambaram is limited to one every 15-20 minutes.
Commuters have raised concerns over the lack of adequate transport options and the high fares charged by autorickshaws and taxis during these hours. Boarding a direct auto or taxi from Chengalpet or even Tambaram is expensive, and passengers often end up paying double the usual fare.
There have been calls for the MTC to increase the frequency of buses on Route 500 (Chengalpet -Tambaram) and for better local train connectivity.