Shatabdi, Jan Shatabdi cancelled in Chandigarh; passengers stranded

Railways cancelled the trains after waiting for four hours as farmers blocked tracks near the Chandigarh railway station in response to the Bharat Bandh call by farm unions

Long wait ended in disappointment for passengers at the Chandigarh Railway Station, as the Jan Shatabdi and Shatabdi Express trains, along with several others through the day, were cancelled due to farmers blocking the railway tracks near the station.

Passengers waiting for the Kalka-New Delhi Shatabdi Express, which was eventually cancelled around 11am. (Ravi Kumar/HT)

“Around 340 people were supposed to board the Shatabdi Express and another 400 were waiting for the Jan Shatabdi Express in the morning. But due to the protests, both the trains, along with many others scheduled till 6pm, were cancelled and the passengers were given full refunds,” said JP Singh, station superintendent.

“We had reached the station around 6am and waited patiently, but the train kept getting delayed till 10.45am and was finally cancelled,” said a passenger travelling to Delhi.

CTU services crippled

Passengers waiting for the Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU) buses were also a harried lot as the farmer protests affected its inter-state and tricity bus services.

All long route buses to Haryana, Punjab and Delhi were affected, while the local CTU buses to satellite towns of Mohali and Panchkula could ply only till UT’s borders with these cities.

Buses headed to Zirakpur and Dera Bassi dropped passengers at the Hallomajra light point. Similarly, most buses to New Chandigarh couldn’t run and returned from Sarangpur, while buses to Mohali were able to drop passengers till only YPS Chowk.

Even buses headed to Panchkula had to return from Manimajra. People going to Kurali and Ambala also faced similar problems.