Poll effect: Flight fares double, all trains crowded
CHENNAI: Chennai airport and Tambaram Railway Station witness huge rush of passengers on Thursday since people started to travel back to their native to cast their votes.
As private firms also announced a holiday for ensuring 100 per cent voting in the state, people started to travel back early on Thursday leading to the congestion in most of the trains and flights.
The Chennai airport was overcrowded as many turned there since most of the trains and buses were already full. Also, they could reach their homes sooner and spend more time with their families during the weekend. However, the flight ticket fare surged due to the last-minute rush.
Usually, flight ticket to Thoothukudi would be around Rs 4,000, but on Thursday it increased to Rs 8,297, for Madurai it was Rs 3,600, but it went up to Rs 8,555, for Tiruchy it was Rs 2,382 normally, but it shot up to Rs 6,344, for Coimbatore usually it was Rs 3,342 but now it is increased to Rs 7,881. However, most of the passengers were not concerned about the price hike and were booking the tickets since only a few seats were left on all the flights. The passengers demanded that AAI should have operated more flights so that people could travel easily to cast their votes.
The scene was no different at Tambaram railway station which was flooded with commuters. The Southern Railway operated a special train from Tambaram to Kanniyakumari via Villupuram, Tiruchy, Madurai, Virudhunagar, Tirunelveli and Nagercoil. The train departed from Tambaram station at 4.30 pm and there were a total of 23 coaches 19 of the coaches were allocated for unreserved, but all the coaches got filled quickly and most of the people were travelling by standing. The other trains especially to southern districts were also jam-packed.