Passengers harried lot as rail service remains disrupted

Ajay Joshi

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, October 20

Rail passengers on trunk route of Amritsar-Ludhiana-New Delhi and other cities continued to be a harassed lot due to cancellation, rescheduling and late running of several long-route trains.

Hours after Dasehra revellers were mowed down by the trains near Amritsar, some of the trains were either diverted or many were stranded at Jalandhar railway station. Although some of the trains reached Amritsar junction at midnight, many trains were cancelled during the day.

Trains running in the wee hours from Amritsar (Asr) are: Asr-Chandigarh-Intercity express, Ludhiana –Asr express, Amritsar express and others were immediately cancelled. The last train to reach Amritsar at 11.50 AM was Katihar-Asr express train, before that Dehradun-Asr express was also cancelled at the Asr junction. Among the diverted trains were Bathinda-Jammu-Tawi and Jammu-Tawi-Bhatinda, which were diverted towards Jalandhar-Pathankot route.

Owing to the late arrival of trains going to Jammu, an Army personnel eventually booked a cab to reach Jammu. He said he paid more than triple the amount to the cab driver than what he paid for the reservation.

Officials arranging alternative conveyance for the passengers said train movement ceased after the incident as the agitated people, including the kin of revelers who died in the tragedy, sat on the track. Almost all the services remained suspended after the tragic incident. Passengers of Shatabdi Express faced a tough time as the train was stranded at Jalandhar.

While most of the passengers miserably looked for other transportation, some of them fetched taxis or online cabs to reach Amritsar. A passenger TK Maulik , who had boarded Shatabdi from New Delhi said he came from Kolkata to Amritsar for his mother’s treatment. When he was informed that train wasn’t going to Amritsar junction, he ended up sitting on pavements looking for taxis. Station officer said, refunds of tickets for the cancelled were granted to all the passengers.

Shan-e-Punjab was also cancelled right ahead of its scheduled departure. The operators at the enquiry counter said the passengers of the Shatabdi Express had to board the train from Jalandhar to reach New Delhi.

The authorities in the Jalandhar had pressed Punjab Roadways buses for the convenience of passengers. For a religious event at Beas on Sunday, free bus service was arranged by the Satsang community members.