Rail traffic comes to a standstill

Hundreds of rail passengers returning to the city from the southern districts were stranded for more than an hour Sunday morning following a breach on the railway track near Singaperumal koil.Six express trains, packed with passengers, were halted between Tambaram-Chengalpattu due to the breach and traffic became normal around noon. The passengers were put to severe hardship due to the incident.According to Southern Railway sources, the automatic signal failed following the breach. The trains were cautioned and subsequently halted at nearby stations.The signaling and electrical department staff, who came to know about the breach, informed the divisional authorities and the track was restored for traffic within an hour. However, normalcy in rail traffic was restored only around 2 pm.Due to the four-inch fracture in the main express line, rail traffic between Chennai Egmore and Tambaram section was stopped for almost two hours.Express trains, including Pearl City, Podhigai Rameswaram, Nellai and Kanyakumari, were stopped at different points between Tambaram and Chengalpattu.Subsequently, the express trains were told to move at 10-20 km per hour while crossing the Maraimalai Nagar and Singaperumal Koil stretch. Two emu trains on the Chennai–Chengalpttu line were also delayed.“The public still believe in railway as a safe mode for journey. So, the railways should be more interactive with stranded passengers as we were clueless about the train halt,” Mr K. Kanagambaram, who boarded the Chengalpattu EMU, lamented.