Fog travel a nightmare for train passengers

With trains running late due to fog, passengers who have to wait brave the cold at the railway station.With lack of enough chairs to sit due to the rush, many of them have to sleep on the floor or sit and wait the whole night for their trains.

LUCKNOW With dense fog throwing rail traffic out of gear cross the state, the passengers waiting on the platforms and corridors at the Charbagh railway station here face a tough time in this intensely cold weather.. With lack of enough chairs to sit due to the rush, many of them have to sleep on the floors or wait the whole night for their trains.

Passengers waiting for their train at Charbagh railway station in Lucknow. (Deepak Gupta/HT photo)

Train number 22453 Rajyarani Express from Lucknow to Meerut was running seven-and-a- half hours late on Friday, causing inconvenience to those who had no choice but to wait. “My train was supposed to start at 2 pm but it is delayed by 7 hours. We were in Lucknow for the treatment of our mother. We have no choice but to wait here on the floor as waiting in a hotel would burn an unnecessary hole in our pocket,” said Pawan Kumar, waiting for Rajyarani Express.

Similarly, Virangana Lucknow intercity running between Jhansi and Lucknow was approximately four hours late in Lucknow. Ambedkar Nagar-Prayagraj Express was also running four hours late.

Art students paint passengers’ plight

Many art students have discovered a new location to hone their skills, amid the turmoil at Charbagh terminal where numerous people can be seen waiting for hours for their trains. As many as 18 groups of students from the Lucknow College of Arts and Crafts’ painting department visit the Charbagh station’s seating area every day to sketch and paint, depicting the hardships of passengers on large sheets of white paper.

“We are here from 2 pm to 5 pm every day as we get a lot of subjects here, more than any other place,” said Divyanshi Kumari, a student. “We visualize people present here and draw them on paper as the railway station is a place where we find a lot of emotions too. We’re currently drawing people facing problems here during the winter,” said another student, Shivani Vishwakarma.

“There are conflicting feelings of delight and melancholy here. I’m attempting to paint the uncle who is seated here because he appears stressed and I want to convey that in my painting,” said a student Jyotsana, while sketching.