Vendors, passengers hit

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, February 11

With the Railways extending the discontinuation of 18 city-bound trains, vendors as well as passengers are a harried lot.

While vendors rue that it will curtail their earning, passengers say that the disrupted schedule of trains has left their travel plans disturbed. 

Vendors, though, vent their anger at the railway authorities, they are reluctant to be quoted. They say that the discontinuation of  a large number of trains reduced the footfall of passengers, thus, affecting their business. According to them, they continue to pay high rent, power tariff and other maintenance charges  besides paying to their staff. They say that they should be given respite in rent for cancellation of trains.

A daily passenger, Harpreet Singh, said it was incomprehensible to keep so many trains off track for months. He cited the instance of two Superfast trains between Chandigarh and Amritsar which were stopped in December. Now, the discontinuation will remain till April 1.

Questioning the Railways, he said private operators were running buses despite fog but keeping trains off track was beyond his understanding.

He said the Railways had stopped operations of Chandigarh-Amritsar Superfast Express (12241) till March 31 and Amritsar-Chandigarh (12242) till April 1.

Another passenger, Shweta Kakkar, said she had to travel to Kolkatta to attend a family marriage. “Now, I have to travel in a train the timing of which is not suitable for me,” she added.