Passengers bear the brunt as several trains delayed

Commuters faced great inconvenience as several trains were delayed, short terminated and originated with farmers blocking the railway line here on Sunday. As a result, many trains were diverted via Tarn Taran leading to wastage of time.

As per the records of the Railways, the farmers blocked the rail traffic from 12 pm to 3.50 pm, but it upset the schedule of trains till 9 pm. The Delhi-Amritsar Shatabdi via Tarn Taran arrived at 3.05 pm instead of its scheduled time of 1.30 pm. Consequently, its departure was delayed by 20 minutes. A pair of passenger train between Bhagtanwala to Khemkaran was cancelled. A pair of Ludhiana to Chheharta train was short terminated at the Tangra railway station.

Arvind Juneja, a trader by profession, who frequently commutes to Delhi for business purpose, said travel time got extended without any reason. They had to stay at the station for quite a while leading to their harassment.

Passengers also complained of wasting additional time in commuting as the trains were diverted via Tarn Taran which takes longer time. Vendors at the local railway station and hawkers who sell eatables in trains fear that short-duration stirs may lead to frequent blocking of the railway line. It would cause them financial losses as passengers would have to stay away from the railway station.