Chennai floods: Railways to run special trains to help stranded passengers

Chennai: With the waters receding slowly in some areas in Tamil Nadu, the Railways have increased their deployment to rescue stranded people, with around 10 to 20 special trains running everyday, evacuating people in large numbers.

"The water has receded in some areas in Chennai and we are repairing the damages in tracks and bridges. We are using more of the special trains and are planning a massive deployment. We ran 22 special trains yesterday and have planned 10 special trains today. Additional coaches are on standby for the specials," Railways Public Relations Officer Anil Saxena told ANI.

However, trains continued to be cancelled in large numbers and tracks remain submerged in many places.

"Even though the special trains are doing well, we hope that by evening we can restore long distance trains. Chennai Central still remains waterlogged, which is making things difficult. Around 130 trains had to be cancelled today and we have cancelled around 500 trains till now," Saxena added.

Around 66,000 people have been rescued through the special trains and food, drinking water and medicines are also being distributed in large number, while railway engineers and technicians are working hard to normalise the situation and provide rescue and relief to stranded passengers, he added.

Meanwhile, in a positive note for stranded passengers, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma said that commercial flights are expected to begin their services after December 6, once power is restored in the airport.

"We started technical flights yesterday, but resuming commercial flights services will take time as the airport basement remains flooded and there is no power supply. We expect commercial flight services to resume after December 6," Sharma told ANI.

With the torrential rains having slowed down to light showers, rescue ops and relief works have intensified as the NDRF and the Navy are taking advantage of the situation to help the stranded people.

Meanwhile, bus services to Chennai and from Madurai beside others are slowly being resumed.

"Five buses have arrived from Chennai and 30 special buses would start operating today," transport officials said, adding that most buses from southern districts are being diverted to bring back the people.

Special trains from Rameswaram and Tirunelveli are also being operated to clear the rush.

A top official of the Southern Railways, who did not want to be quoted, told PTI that normal train services would resume only by December 7 night or December 8 morning.