Weather takes toll on rail traffic

Kuldip Bhatia

Ludhiana, January 1

With weather conditions deteriorating further and visibility becoming near zero, the rail traffic in the region has gone chaotic. Two intercity trains to and from Delhi were cancelled for the day and almost all others, including three pairs of elite Shatabdi Express were running late by one to more than six hours. Most other long-route trains were also running way behind schedule.

Rail travel became a nightmare for passengers travelling between New Delhi and different destinations in Punjab as two intercity express trains (12459/60 New Delhi-Amritsar-New Delhi) were cancelled, both pairs of New Delhi-Amritsar-New Delhi Shatabdi Express (12013/14 and 12029/30), one pair of New Delhi-Moga-New Delhi Shatabdi Express (12043/44) one pair of New Delhi-Jalandhar-New Delhi Intercity Express (14681/82) and one pair of New Delhi-Amritsar-New Delhi Shan-e-Punjab (12497/98) were delayed by one to 8.30 hours.

Railways cancelled four other long-route trains, 13005 Howrah-Amritsar Mail, 14673 Jaynagar-Amritsar Shaheed Express, 15209 Saharsa-Amritsar Jansewa Express and 15210 Amritsar-Saharsa Jansewa Express in addition to one pair of New Delhi-Amritsar-New Delhi Intercity Express (12459/60). Rescheduling of as many as 22 trains for late departure by one to nine hours further compounded the situation for rail travelers, who were left to fend for themselves.

Trains running late

• (15 to 18 hrs): 12491 Barauni-Jammu Maur Dhwaj Express, 18101 Tatanagar-Jammu Express, 12413 Ajmer-Jammu Pooja Superfast Express.
• (8 to 11 hrs): 12425 New Delhi- Jammu Rajdhani Express, 18237 Bilaspur-Amritsar Chhattisgarh Express, 13005 Howrah-Amritsar Mail, 12331 Howrah-Jammu Himgiri Express, 16317 Kanyakumari-Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Himsagar Express, 12716 Amritsar-Nanded Sachkhand Express, 15707 Katihar-Amritsar Amrapali Express, 12919 Indore-Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Malwa Express, 12203 Saharsa-Amritsar Garib Rath.
• (5 to 8 hrs): 11077 Pune-Jammu Jhelum Express, 22126 Amritsar-Nagpur Superfast Express, 13307 Dhanbad-Ferozepur Ganga Sutlej Express, 15531 Saharsa-Amritsar Jansadharan Express, 11058 Amritsar-CST (Mumbai) Express, 15211 Darbhanga-Amritsar Jannayak Express, 11057 CST (Mumbai)-Amritsar Express. 
• (2 to 5 hrs): 13049 Howrah-Amritsar Express, 12237 Varanasi-Jammu Begumpura Express, 12054 Haridwar-Amritsar Janshatabdi Express, 12715 Nanded-Amritsar Sachkhand Express, 12317 Kolkata-Amritsar Akaltakht Express, 18238 Amritsar-Bilaspur Chhattisgarh Express, 14649 Jaynagar-Amritsar Saryu-Yamuna Express, 12925 Bandra Terminus (Mumbai)-Amritsar Paschim Express and 12238 Jammu-Varanasi Begumpura Express.