Strike effect: Long-route trains still running late

Kuldip Bhatia

Ludhiana, September 3

While rail traffic in the region was slowly coming back on track after the nationwide strike by the central trade unions and the rail roko for nearly seven hours near Jalandhar on Wednesday, quite a few long-route trains were still running behind schedule. The railway officials attributed the delay to the cascading effect of the disruption caused yesterday.

Both the up and down New Delhi-Amritsar-New Delhi Shane-Punjab Express trains were running late by more than two hours. While the train from New Delhi arrived here more than 2.30 hrs after the stipulated time, it was also delayed by almost the same time for its return journey from Amritsar.

Similarly, 12331 Howrah-Jammu Tawi Himgiri Express and 12317 Sealdah-Amritsar Akal Takht Express were delayed by more than two hours, 12919 Indore-Jammu Tawi Malwa Express by 2.45 hrs, 15209 Saharsa-Amritsar Jansewa Express by 1.50 hrs, 12550 Jammu Tawi-Durg Superfast Express by 1.45 hrs, 05116 Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra-Chhapra Special by 1.30 hrs and 14673 Jaynagar-Amritsar Shaheed Express by 1 hr.

Rail passengers, who remained at the receiving end yesterday during the trade unions’ strike and rail roko when several trains were stranded between the Ludhiana and Jalandhar railway stations for more than five hours and rail traffic was also disrupted elsewhere by protesters, were still in for more inconvenience due to late running of many long-route trains today.

Passengers waiting for their respective trains at the railway station here vented their ire both at the protesters and the railway authorities. “The Railways has nothing to do with the demands of farmers or other protesting groups but still rail traffic, being a soft target, is the first casualty during any protest.

On their part, the railway authorities do precious little to mitigate the suffering of waiting passengers by providing reasonably good amenities on platforms and in waiting areas, especially during adverse weather conditions,” said a passenger waiting for his train to Jammu Tawi.