Chennai, Sep 30 : With Tamil Nadu gearing up for Ayudha Puja on Wednesday and Vijayadashami on Thursday, followed by a long weekend, thousands of people are likely to leave Chennai for their hometowns and tourist destinations. To manage the heavy rush, the State Express Transport Corporation (SETC) has announced a large-scale holiday transport plan, deploying over 1,000 special buses and extra train services from the city starting Tuesday.

Authorities said 885 special buses will operate from Chennai's Kilambakkam bus terminal to key southern and western districts, including Tiruvannamalai, Trichy, Kumbakonam, Madurai, Tirunelveli, Kanniyakumari, Thoothukudi, Coimbatore, Salem, Tiruppur and Erode.

Additionally, 185 special buses will run from Chennai's Koyambedu terminal to Tiruvannamalai, Nagapattinam, Velankanni, Hosur and Bengaluru.

To ease inter-district travel, about 300 special services will also run from Bengaluru, Tiruppur, Erode and Coimbatore to various destinations across Tamil Nadu.

Transport Minister S.S. Sivasankar personally inspected the Kilambakkam terminal to ensure smooth operations and confirmed that new temporary routes have been arranged to avoid bottlenecks caused by ongoing flyover and road expansion works at Bukkathurai and Pathalam Road Junction in the Chengalpattu district.

To reduce congestion, district police advised south-bound travellers from Chennai to use the East Coast Road (ECR) and the Outer Ring Road (GWT Road).

Vehicles from southern Chennai have been asked to go via Melavalampettai and Thirukazhukundram before rejoining the GST Road. Heavy vehicles heading towards the southern districts are directed to use the Chengalpattu'Kancheepuram bypass to Tindivanam, while those going west should stick to the Outer Ring Road. Importantly, heavy vehicles will not be allowed on the Chengalpattu stretch from 2 p.m. Tuesday until 3 a.m. Wednesday.

Southern Railway has also announced special trains to handle the festive passenger surge. A special unreserved train from Tambaram to Sengottai will depart on Tuesday at 4.15 p.m., reaching Sengottai at 3 a.m. on Wednesday, via Villupuram, Ariyalur, Trichy and Madurai.

Another special train will leave Chennai Egmore at 10.15 p.m. Tuesday for Thiruvananthapuram North, arriving at 2.05 p.m. Wednesday. A return train will run on October 5. An unreserved MEMU express from Egmore to Madurai will depart on Tuesday at 11.45 p.m. and reach Madurai at 10.15 a.m. on Wednesday.

The authorities have urged passengers to plan travel early, use designated terminals, and follow diversions to avoid delays during the extended holiday period.

/IANS