The final run for the last metre gauge service on the Tambaram-Villupuram sector left Tambaram Station, Chennai last week. Ardent fans and admirers of Indian Railways, its trains and locomotives, said the efficiency and power of the metre gauge diesel engines were simply unmatched.
After gauge conversion between Tambaram and Egmore in the late 1990s, Sethu, Kamban and Cholan Expresses and Thanjavur and Kumbakonam Fast Passenger trains operated from Tambaram to transport commuters to coastal, central and southern districts of Tamil Nadu in addition to a few passenger trains.
In December 2006, five of these services were stopped because of gauge conversion beyond Villupuram and the remaining three services to Villupuram and Tiruvannamalai were stopped on Thursday, May 31st, 2007.
