Chennai: Thousands of passengers dependent on suburban trains on the Tambaram-Chennai Beach stretch were stranded, forced to look for alternative transport options as Southern Railway on Sunday cancelled its services from 10.30am to 3.30pm owing to track inspection and improvement works.Since 41 suburban trains — 20 from Chennai Beach to Tambaram, Chengalpet, Kancheepuram and Tirumalpur and 21 trains in the opposite direction — were cancelled with prior intimation, people who reached the stations moved to nearby bus stops and metro stations. Passenger specials operated between Tambaram and Chengalpattu, Arakkonam and Tirumalpur at one-hour intervals helped little.People crossed railway tracks to catch the last train in the morning that departed from Tambaram railway station around 10.30am and crowded around ticket counters before railways resumed services around 3.30pm.Railway officials said line inspection and periodical work were mandatory to ensure the safety of passengers. Services will again be suspended on Sunday (July 12). “We selected Sunday to carry out maintenance work to minimise hardship for commuters,” said an official.Passengers said Southern Railway should plan maintenance work without stopping all services on a stretch. “Suburban trains are the lifeline of the city. They should operate trains on alternate tracks,” said S Vinoth, who commutes to work on suburban trains on Sundays too.Those who reached Tambaram from outside the city were the worst affected. They had to catch autorickshaws or cabs to reach their destinations within the city, as the additional 50 buses operated by MTC were not enough. The extra buses plied between Tambaram and T Nagar, and Tambaram and Royapuram. Tambaram bus stand was unusually crowded for a Sunday, and vehicle movement was affected on GST Road near Tambaram. .
