A large number of office-goers were stranded during peak office hours after an empty rake of an electrical multiple unit (EMU) train derailed at the Avadi railway station, early on on Tuesday, October 24, 2023. The derailment resulted in the three bogies going off the tracks disrupting both suburban train services and long-distance trains.
According to Southern Railway, five EMU trains towards Chennai Central were delayed and four Express trains Vande Bharat (Chennai - Mysore), Shatabdhi (Chennai-Mysore), Double Decker (Chennai-Bengaluru), Brindavan (Chennai-Bengaluru) and Kovai Express (Chennai-Coimbatore) were rescheduled at the originating stations due to late running of pairing trains in the morning and evening schedules.
The derailment took place when the EMU was being shunted from the Annanur depot to operate the train from Avadi to Chennai beach railway station.
A senior official of the Southern Railway said the derailment happened when the EMU was being brought to the platform when the loco driver operated the train without stopping at the platform, at around 5.40 a.m. The derailment resulted in the rake crashing into the track line meant for long-distance trains and also damaging the overhead power equipment.
A statement from Southern Railway said the Divisional Railway Manager and his team of senior officials were on the spot, and full restoration work was completed at around 4 p.m. However the main line was restored for traffic by about 9.30 a.m.
The Chennai division operated the suburban services on the affected line towards Moore Market complex and Beach railway stations with 20 minutes delay of all services in the morning by operating the trains on the main line between Nemillichery and Avadi and thereafter on the suburban track line.
R. Senthilnathan, a commuter from Tiruvallur, said the suspension of the suburban train services caused undue hardships to office-goers on Tuesday morning.
