The lack of coordination between the district administration of Tiruttani and Tiruvallur with the railway authorities came to the fore when thousands of those taking the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC) exam and the devotees bound for Aadi festival faced severe inconvenience due to the stoppage of suburban train services on the west section from the city on July 24 for undertaking track maintenance work. The line block announced by the Chennai division of Southern Railway for bridge repair work at Avadi resulted in suburban train services being cancelled.
A.Roy Rozario, president, Railway Passengers’ Association of Pattabhiram, said though the railway authorities operated passenger specials on the fast track, the skipping of stoppages at several railway stations left passengers bound to catch long-distance trains at MGR Central Station and Chennai Egmore, stranded. Also those who were planning to appear for the TNPSC exam also had to find their own mode of transport to reach the exam centres in the city.
Social activist T. Sadagopan said the line block also caused severe hardships to the hundreds of devotees bound to temples in and around Tiruvallur and Tiruttani for participating in the Aadi festival to postpone their travel plans.
The railway passengers associations wanted the railway authorities to revert to the old convention of granting line blocks for maintenance works to be taken up during night hours from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. so that the suburban commuters do not suffer any hardships.
A senior official of the Chennai division of Southern Railway said normally maintenance timings are announced well in advance and the timings are scheduled in such a way that there was minimal effect on the operation of suburban train services. The railway official pointed out the railway authorities could have cancelled the line block on the west section if the State government had communicated about the conduct of the TNPSC exams and the organising of Aadi festival.
