Rail roko by farmers disrupts 100 trains under Ambala division

Nitish Sharma

Ambala, April 17

With cancellation, diversion, short termination and rescheduling, over 100 trains, including 20 freight trains, were affected under the Ambala division due to the farmers’ rail roko agitation near Shambhu border on the Ambala-Sahnewal section today.

The closure of the Shambhu toll plaza at the Haryana-Punjab border has already been causing inconvenience to commuters. The blockade of rail track at Shambhu will further worsen the situation for travellers.

As per sources, over 100 trains, including about 80 passenger trains, have been affected and 50 mail express trains diverted, 19 cancelled and about 11 short terminated/short originated. Some trains were regulated and rescheduled.

A railway official said the entire railway staff was busy in obtaining the latest position of the trains and crowd management. The stress on railway operations was increasing, and if the track was not cleared soon, the operations would be hit badly. While today over 100 trains were affected, between 150 and 200 trains would be hit if the situation remained the same tomorrow. The diverted trains were affecting other trains as well. At present, there was a huge crowd in Bihar-bound trains.

About 50 trains, including Delhi-Amritsar Vande Bharat (22487), New Delhi-Katra Shri Shakti Express (22461), Jammu Mail (14033), Shan-e-Punjab (12498), Hemkund (20807), Swaran Shatabdi (12030), and Kolkata-Jammu Tavi (13151), were diverted.

At least 19 trains, including Patiala-Ambala Cantonment passenger, Ambala Cantonment Jalandhar City, Ludhiana Ambala Cantonment MEMU and Bathinda-Ambala Cantonment special were cancelled.

Gaurav, a passenger, said: “I need to reach Gorakhpur, but my train is not being updated. We have been told that the trains are running late and have been cancelled due to the farmers’ agitation.”

Senior Divisional Commercial Manager Naveen Kumar, meanwhile, said: “The number of affected trains will continue to increase until the track is cleared. For the convenience of the passengers, regular announcements are being made at railway stations and the number of inquiry counters have been increased.”

Divisional Railway Manager (Ambala division) Mandeep Singh Bhatia said: “Efforts are being made to minimise passenger inconvenience and keep the mail express and long-route trains running through diverted routes. The civil administration has been in talks with the farmers, and we are hopeful that the track will be cleared and rail traffic will be restored soon.”