Damaged Ambala-Delhi rail track
Thousands remain stranded
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 4 — Thousands of rail passengers travelling North from Delhi were delayed by several hours today while many postponed their visits as 16 major trains stood cancelled and a majority of the trains were diverted from the damaged Delhi-Ambala track today.

The situation is likely to remain same tomorrow as well as diversions for trains bound for North from Delhi will continue. Most trains to the South from Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir will run on the scheduled route by using the second track on the Ambala-Delhi section. Meanwhile six trains stand cancelled for tomorrow, sources confirmed.

Following the diversion today, passengers had a tough time as all trains from Delhi and bound northwards for places like Amritsar, Jammu, Pathankot, Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Bathinda had to take a detour either eastward of Delhi from Shamli-Saharanpur or westward of Delhi via Rohtak-Jind-Narwana-Jhakhal-Dhuri to reach their destinations in the North.

The route from Delhi via Saharnpur is about 100 km more than the Ambala-Delhi route and the diversion from Rohtak-Jind-Narwana-Jakhal-Dhuri route to Ludhiana is about 125 km more, sources said. Unlike the Ambala-Delhi section, both alternative routes have only a single track. Thus trains have to wait at stations to enable the train from the opposite direction to pass. Besides the alternative routes have their own set of trains and goods trains as well.

The delay caused due to diversions was so much that the New Delhi-Chandigarh Shatabdi that was scheduled to reach here at 10:20 a.m. chugged in almost 3:30 hours behind schedule. The same was the case with Himalayan Queent — three hours late. This train had been listed as cancelled by the Railways yesterday but was run this morning from New Delhi.

The Kalka Mail that reaches Chandigarh in the morning was 2 hours and 10 minutes behind schedule while Himachal Express from New Delhi to Una was three hours behind schedule by the time it had reached Ambala this morning. The long-distance Swaraj Express running between Mumbai and Jammu was late by 7 hours and 15 minutes by the time it reached Jakhal on its upwards journey.

Barauni Express bound for Amritsar was more than three hours late till it reached Jakhal on its upwards journey while Paschim Express, Malwa Express, New Delhi-Amritsar Express, Jhelum Express, Pooja Express, Muree Express and the New Delhi-Bathinda inter city were delayed between three to six hours.

The pairs of these trains running downwards are going through the Ambala-Delhi section and have a semblance of punctuality. One of the tracks between Ambala and Delhi had cracked at nearly 100 places and not 70 points as estimated earlier. Around 15 teams was welding the cracks the track and is expected to be repaired by tomorrow.

Due to running of trains the delivery of mail has suffered as a large number of mail bags have piled up on several stations. Buses between Chandigarh and Delhi were jampacked and people could be seen making arrangements to share taxis. The problems of accumulated mail will aggravate in the next two days as letters posted from Sonepat, Panipat and Karnal for destinations in the North will not reach destinations. Mail for cities in the South and the West will reach as trains going from Ambala to Delhi are following the scheduled route.

Our Correspondent from Sonepat adds: Hundreds of mail bags meant for delivery in Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, parts of Haryana, Himachal and Chandigarh have piled up here. Chaotic conditions prevailed at the station as suburban trains between Kurukshetra and Delhi were cancelled. This caused inconvenience to daily commuters, government servants and school teachers who could not reach Delhi in time.

All Delhi-bound buses were overcrowded and commuters could be seen travelling on roof tops.