Gujjars’ protest derails railway traffic at Charbagh station

LUCKNOW: As the Gujjar community continued to block railway tracks in Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi for the second consecutive day to press for their demands for reservation, their protest led to the cancellation of four trains and delay in the arrival of 40 others at Lucknow Junction and Charbagh railway station on Saturday.

The trains which were cancelled were Bandra Terminus Express, Bandra Superfast Express, Garib Rath Express and Janta Express.

The list of trains which arrived later included Sadhbhavna Superfast Express (six hours), Swatantrata Senani Express (five hours), Sadhbhavna Express (five hours), Anand Vihar Terminal Express (five hours), Bareilly Express (five hours), Doon Express (four hours) and Intercity Express (four hours). “I came to board the Intercity Express for Varanasi. While the railways’ website showed that the train was on time, it arrived four hours late. Even the announcements for the delayed arrival was made after intervals and not in one go,” said Ritesh Kapoor, a Kapoorthala resident.

Ankur Gupta, who was spotted at the inquiry counter, said, “I didn’t know that my train was cancelled as the railways didn’t bother making the information available on time. Even the website did not indicate that the train was cancelled. I only got to know that Bandra Express had been cancelled after I asked at the inquiry desk at Charbagh railway station.”

“I had to board Marudhar Express at Charbagh railway station and the train was three hours late. However, the announcement was not made after an hour,” said Rishi Kumar, another passenger.