Vande Bharat, Shatabdi delayed

Thousands of rail passengers faced inconvenience today as a number of trains, including the afternoon New Delhi Shatabdi and the Chandigarh-Ajmer Vande Bharat Express, were delayed due to the farmer protest.

The Shatabdi train, which starts from here at 12:05 pm, had to be delayed by two hours and was given the go-ahead by the authorities at 2:05 pm. The passengers, who were supposed to reach New Delhi at 3:20 pm, were upset over the delay.

“Rather than stopping the train midway causing a lot of inconvenience to the passengers, we decided to delay the train’s departure by two hours. The protest was supposed to end at 3 pm,” said a senior railway official of Ambala division.

The Shatabdi reached late by 2 hours and 43 minutes at its next stop, Ambala Cantonment, and 3.10 hours late at Karnal. The Ajmer-bound Vande Bharat Express, which starts from here, commenced its journey 45 minutes late. The train was scheduled to depart at 3:15 pm but left at 4:01 pm. Another Vande Bharat, which starts from Ajmer and ends its journey here, also had to be stopped en route. It reached here at 3:26 pm instead of 2:45 pm.

The Paschim Express, from Amritsar to Mumbai Central, had to be halted in the city for 2 hours and 31 minutes.

Also, the commuters travelling via Kalka-Ambala Cantt passenger train were hassled as it reached here late by 3 hours and 4 minutes. The train, which started late by 1 hour and 13 minutes from Kalka, reached Chandimandir 1 hour and 17 minutes late and left from there 2 hours and 33 minutes late. Similarly, the Nangal Dam- Ambala Cant train also reached Chandigarh 2 hours and 47 minutes late at 4:07 pm.