The Hindu : National : Passengers suffer due to disruption of rail services

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 03, 2007
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National

Passengers suffer due to disruption of rail services

Devesh K. Pandey

Commuters adversely hit by Gujjar agitation

NEW DELHI: On a day when several trains were delayed or cancelled due to violent protests by the Gujjar community, frequent announcements of ``inconvenience is regretted'' being made at New Delhi railway station throughout the day came as little consolation for passengers who had to board trains for various destinations and for those who had to wait for hours for their near and dear ones to arrive.

"I came here at 7 a.m. thinking the train in which my family is coming from my native place Darbhanga would arrive on time. Since then I have made numerous visits to railway officials but have not been given a to-the-point reply. Earlier they said it would come at 3-30 p.m., now I have been told that it would arrive at 4-30 p.m.," said Vinay, a resident of Gurgaon.

Chaos prevailed in the Station Superintendent's office with people volleying one query after the other enquiring about the timing of the trains.

While some wanted to know if their train had been rescheduled or cancelled, others complained that there was confusion over the time of departure.

"This is not our job. But considering the situation we are trying our level best to provide them with satisfactory replies," said a railway official. Ganesh, a resident of Andhra Pradesh, had a harrowing time as his train to Amritsar was delayed by hours.

"I came here today and was supposed to leave in the morning, but they are saying that the train is delayed. I have no place to stay here, so I am planning to leave by some other train. The railway officials have put a seal on the ticket allowing me to board any other train to Amritsar on condition of availability of seat," he said.

While confusion remained the order of the day for passengers of the East-bound trains, those travelling by the Delhi-Ahmedabad Rajdhani were also not sure about its status.

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