E-Paper
Fog effect: Passengers stranded as trains delayed in Ludhiana
As the Ludhiana railway station does not have any enclosed waiting area to cater to the heavy rush of the passengers, who come from different parts of the city and remote villages to board trains to different locations, including Delhi, Mumbai, Lucknow, and Kolkata, people, including children and senior citizens, were seen sitting on platforms in the cold weather
The fog-induced delay in trains reaching Ludhiana railway station on Monday left the passengers stranded in the biting cold, with some of the trains arriving 8 to 10 hours late.
The trains which were running behind their scheduled time on Monday were Himgiri Express, which was late by 9:30 hours, and Sachkhand express by 5 hours. Amritsar to Chhatrapati Shivaji terminus express, which was supposed to reach Ludhiana at 11:45am, reached at 5:25pm and the Ganga Sutlej express was delayed by almost two hours.
As the Ludhiana railway station does not have any enclosed waiting area to cater to the heavy rush of the passengers, who come from different parts of the city and remote villages to board trains to different locations, including Delhi, Mumbai, Lucknow, and Kolkata, people, including children and senior citizens, were seen sitting on platforms in the cold weather.
Kulwant Singh, a resident of Bhagat Singh Nagar in Ludhiana, said, “I am travelling to Delhi for a business meeting, I have been waiting for the last two hours for Amritsar CMST express but the train has not yet arrived.”
He said that he had faced the same situation last week and had travelled by bus after refunding his ticket.
Manoj Sharma, a resident of Shivpuri, said that Sachkhand express was running late for the most part of the month, he said, adding that initially, it showed an hour long delay but later it showed over five hours. He said that it is very difficult for children to wait for such a long period.
A railway official, requesting anonymity, said that the trains running behind schedule have seen a decline with the improvement in weather. Several trains, including the Malwa express, which were running behind schedule were on time.
