MUMBAI: Anger and frustration spilled over at two of Mumbai’s rail terminuses on Friday as the Western and Central railways cancelled and rescheduled four trains to Delhi ahead of a massive youth protest in the national capital on Sunday.
The disruption also caught a senior citizen couple off-guard at CSMT. The two were seen rushing in an electric cart with their luggage from one platform to another when the cancellation became a talking point. They had bought tatkal tickets for the journey and had not received any message about the cancellation. Station staff claimed that sending timely SMS messages had limited the number of stranded passengers at the terminuses.
A 50-year-old, who had travelled from Mira Road to CSMT, was to take the 22221 CSMT Rajdhani to Delhi, to attend to a family emergency. “We were to take the 22221 CSMT Rajdhani to Delhi and now our plans are a mess. Lokhande was accompanied by Bhagwan Lahange, 36. Railway officials said each of these trains typically carries around 1,500 to 2,000 passengers.
I had to reach Delhi tomorrow due to a family emergency, but now even flights will be expensive,” he said. It is absurd to cancel trains due to a protest,” said one of them.
He said he had not received the cancellation SMS from the Central Railway “My niece had booked my ticket, so I didn’t get the SMS. “We hope to make it to Delhi next week, depending on how things pan out,” said Lahange.
At the Bandra Terminus, two friends who had travelled from Palghar, to combine a sightseeing trip to Delhi with the experience of witnessing a major protest, were sorely disappointed.
Interestingly, the railways have cited concerns over “severe traffic congestion in Delhi” as the reason for cancelling services to the capital. “We came all the way from Palghar in a local train only to find that 12247 Bandra Terminus–Hazrat Nizamuddin Express to Delhi has been cancelled,” said Harshal Lokhande, 40. “Now, we’ll have to head back home.”
The Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) has announced a massive youth-led agitation in the national capital against the Election Commission of India on Sunday, with the central government implementing various measures to prevent protestors from pouring into the city.
