New Delhi, Oct 9 (PTI) In a rare move, the Railway Board on Friday cancelled dozens of trains scheduled to arrive at New Delhi and Hazrat Nizamuddin railway stations between 4 am and 2 pm on October 10, ahead of a massive protest planned by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), demanding the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
The board cancelled all passenger trains departing from their originating stations after 2 pm on October 9, and arriving at New Delhi or Hazrat Nizamuddin railway stations between 4 am and 2 pm on October 10.
The Northern Railway claimed that of the 165 trains scheduled to arrive at the two stations during the specified period, only 38 had been cancelled, while all other trains would operate as usual.
However, late in the evening, the Northern Railway released a list of 64 trains, including Mail/ Express and locals, which have been cancelled. No official statement has been released so far.
A section of railway experts, passenger bodies and recognised federations have criticised the Railway Board’s decision to cancel these trains, calling it an “unprecedented”, “unfortunate” and “anti-passenger” move.
“So far as I remember, it has never happened in the history of Indian Railways that so many trains were cancelled just because of a protest or agitation in any part of the country. I condemn this unfortunate and anti-passenger move,” Shiv Gopal Mishra, general secretary of the All India Railwaymen’s Federation (AIRF), told PTI.
He added that the abrupt cancellations had caused huge inconvenience to thousands of passengers, many of whom might be travelling for urgent medical reasons, work or family gatherings, among other reasons.
“It was only during the Covid that train operations were stopped due to the lockdown. Otherwise, cancellations on such a large scale have never happened, particularly because of a protest,” Mishra said.
Passenger associations from different parts of the country also highlighted the plight of travellers and termed the board’s decision an “ill-conceived move” that would cause extreme hardship to ordinary citizens.
“Many passengers book tickets 60 days in advance. They wait for their journeys, many of which are urgent, and all of a sudden, trains are cancelled without any valid explanation. If the government wanted to stop protesters from coming to Delhi, it could have adopted several other measures rather than harassing passengers,” Basant Kumar Shukla, secretary of the Nagpur-based passenger group Bhartiya Yatri Kendra, said.
He demanded that the Railways make special arrangements for the affected passengers or give them priority in ticket bookings if they wished to travel on alternative dates.
M Jameel Ahamed, chairman of the Coimbatore District Railway Passengers’ Welfare Association, said the number of passengers affected was so large that the adverse impact would continue to affect reservation availability for several days.
“I would call it a knee-jerk reaction, taken without considering its adverse impact on passengers’ interests. Such a move is unexpected from a national transporter,” Ahamed said.
Some experts suggested that, if the Railway Board was genuinely concerned about traffic chaos, it could have terminated these trains at stations closest to New Delhi or Hazrat Nizamuddin. This would have allowed passengers travelling for urgent reasons to make alternative travel arrangements from those stations.
“There is no rationale behind these cancellations. The only aim of the Railway Board was to stop protesters from coming to Delhi. Trains are operating from Delhi to other destinations without any traffic-related issues, but passengers travelling from other stations cannot reach Delhi. This is a strange logic,” a retired railway official said.
He added that the cancellations had led to confusion among passengers, as many are uncertain whether trains passing through New Delhi or Nizamuddin en route to their destinations would halt there or pass through without stopping.
“Will such trains stop at New Delhi or Nizamuddin stations? What if they don’t stop? Such uncertainty is disrupting passengers’ travel plans,” he said. PTI JP KSI
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