Last-minute shopping, travel rush hit city traffic

Railway stations, bus terminals and roads across Chennai were packed with people travelling to their hometowns for Deepavali and shoppers making last-minute purchases ahead of the festival, resulting in severe traffic congestion across the city.

Deepavali will be celebrated across the country on Sunday, November 8. With Saturday, the day before the festival, and Monday, the following day, also being holidays, people have a three-day holiday period.

To meet the travel demand, the Tamil Nadu government is operating 15,659 buses from Chennai to various destinations across the State until November 8.

On the first day of the special operations on Wednesday, a total of 5,061 buses departed from Chennai. These included 2,316 regular services, 2,191 special buses and 554 private buses.

The Southern Railway has also started operating special express trains and unreserved special trains from Wednesday to various destinations within Tamil Nadu and other States.

Consequently, Chennai Central, Egmore, Perambur and Tambaram railway stations witnessed heavy passenger rush. At Chennai Central, migrant workers from northern States began queuing up as early as morning to secure seats in the unreserved second-class coaches of trains bound for northern India, including the Howrah Express scheduled to depart at night.

Similarly, at Egmore railway station, passengers queued up to board unreserved coaches of trains bound for southern districts. Railway Protection Force personnel regulated the entry of passengers into the coaches.

Heavy crowds were also witnessed at the bus terminals in Koyambedu, Kilambakkam and Madhavaram, as well as at the temporary bus terminus in Maraimalai Nagar.

While railway stations and bus terminals were overflowing with people heading to their hometowns, commercial areas such as T. Nagar, Purasawalkam, Washermenpet, Mylapore and Anna Nagar witnessed a huge influx of shoppers making last-minute purchases.