New Delhi-Asr Shatabdi arrives 5.45 hours late

Kuldip Bhatia

Ludhiana, October 11

Rail passengers continue to suffer due to erratic run of most trains, especially those on the Amritsar/Jalandhar-Ludhiana-New Delhi section. Even as two pairs of intercity express running between New Delhi-Amritsar and New Delhi-Jalandhar did not make their scheduled run today, three out of four Shatabdi express trains on this route were running way behind schedule, leaving the passengers fuming and fretting.

While 12459/60 New Delhi-Amritsar-New Delhi and 14681/82 New Delhi-Jalandhar-New Delhi Intercity Express trains, along with 12407 Newjalpaiguri-Amritsar Karambhoomi Express were cancelled for the day, the 12029 New Delhi-Amritsar Swarn Shatabdi Express train, which arrives here at 11.30 am as per the schedule, chugged in after 5.30 pm, some six hours behind schedule.

Likewise, the situation of other Shatabdi trains on the trunk route was no better. The 12030 Amritsar-New Delhi Shatabdi Express train was rescheduled by 3.10 hrs by the Railways but since the corresponding rake would reach Amritsar more than six hours late, the train was expected to be delayed further and the 12013 New Delhi-Amritsar Shatabdi Express was running late by 1.30 hrs.

With the trains on the Amritsar-Ludhiana-New Delhi section not maintaining their schedule for the past several days, the frequent travellers had now started looking for alternative modes of travel.

Late running of some two dozen long-route trains further compounded the misery of rail passengers. The staff manning the enquiry counters at the railway station had a tough time facing irate and frustrated passengers. 

Passengers take road route

“Although making a round trip to New Delhi by Shatabdi is quite convenient as it takes less time, in the wake of uncertainty (read cancellation/ late running) prevailing on this route, travel by road, which takes more time than rail travel and one cannot return back the same day, is preferable for the time being,” said Kapil Gulati, a frequent traveller to Delhi.

Trains running late

12413 Ajmer-Jammu Pooja Superfast Express (12.24 hrs), 13305 Howrah-Amritsar Mail (12.10 hrs), 15209 Saharsa-Amritsar Jansewa Express (11.35 hrs), 14649 Jaynagr-Amritsar Saryu-Yamuna Express (11.15 hrs), 12755 Rajnendra Nagar (Patna)-Jammu Archna Express (9.30 hrs), 12477 Jamnagar-Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Sindhu Express (9.15 hrs), 15210 Amritsar-Saharsa Jansewa Express (9.10 hrs), 15098 Jammu-Bhagalpur Amarnath Express (7.55 hrs), 15211 Darbhanga-Amritsar Jannayak Express (7.20 hrs), 18101 Tatanagar-Jammu Express (6.30 hrs), 18103 Tatanagar-Amritsar Jallianwala Bagh Express (5.50 hrs), 13006 Amritsar-Howrah Mail (5.30 hrs), 15651 Guwahati-Jammu Lohit Express (4.27 hrs), 14650 Amritsar-Jaynagar Saryu-Yamuna Express (3.40 hrs), 22429 Delhi-Pathankot Express (3.20 hrs), 15656 Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra-Kamakhya Express (3.15 hrs) and 15707 Katihar-Amritsar Amarapali Express (3 hrs).