Rail traffic remains erratic

Kuldip Bhatia

Ludhiana, October 21

The tragic incident on Dasehra in Amritsar, when a train ran over those watching celebrations along the railway track, led to the rail traffic going haywire in the region and the erratic run of the trains continued for the third day in succession.

While it might take another day or two for the restoration of normalcy, more trouble is in store, as several trains would be cancelled or diverted via alternate routes during October 23 to 30 due to traffic block for non-interlocking work at Dehri-on-Sone railway station in Mughalsarai division.

According to the railway officials, 10 trains remained cancelled and as many were short-terminated/short-originated, four others were rescheduled for late departure, six were diverted and many more were running late causing inconvenience to passengers.

Among the cancelled trains were the pairs of 12053/54 Amritsar-Haridwar-Amritsar Janshatabdi Express, 12241/42 Chandigarh-Amritsar-Chandigarh Superfast Express, 12411/12 Chandigarh-Amritsar-Chandigarh Intercity Express, 14505/06 Nangal Dam-Amritsar-Nangal Dam Express along with 12460 Amritsar-New Delhi Intercity Express and 14681 New Delhi-Jalandhar Intercity Express.

Six trains – 11058 Amritsar-CST (Mumbai), 12204 Amritsar-Saharsa Garib Rath, 12484 Amritsar-Kochuveli, 12716 Amritsar-Nanded Sachkhand Express, 12926 Amritsar-Bandra Terminus Pashchim Express and 15708 Amritsar-Katihar Amrapali Express, were diverted between Amritsar and Beas through an alternate route.

The 01708 Attari-Jabalpur Special Express short-originated from Ludhiana, 12014 and 12030 Amritsar-New Delhi Shatabdi Express short-originated from Jalandhar City, 12029 New Delhi-Amritsar Swarn Shatabdi Express short-terminated at Jalandhar City, 12497/98 New Delhi-Amritsar-New Delhi Shae-Punjab Express short-terminated and short-originated from Manawala, 15209/10 Saharsa-Amritsar-Saharsa Jansewa Express remained cancelled between Amritsar and Jalandhar City, while 13050 Amritsar-Howrah Express, 14674 Amritsar-Jaynagar Shaheed Express and 18238 Amritsar-Bilaspur Chhattisgarh Express short-originated from Ambala Cantt, the authorities said. The 12491 Barauni-Jammu Tawi Maur Dhwaj Express (5 hours), 22424 Amritsar-Gorakhpur Superfast Express (4.55 hours), 14649 Jaynagar-Amritsar Saryu Yamuna Express (3.45 hours) and 12716 Amritsar-Nanded Sachkhand Express (2 hours) were rescheduled.

Trains running late 

• More than 9 to 11 hrs: 14673 Jaynagar-Amritsar Shaheed Express, 01707 Jabalpur-Attari Special Express
• 3 to 6 hrs: 18101 Tatanagar-Jammu Tawi Muri Express, 13307 Dhanbad-Firozepur Ganga Sutlej Express, 12355 Rajendranagar (Patna)-Jammu Tawi Archana Express, 12716 Amritsar-Nanded Sachkhand Express, 12331 Howrah-Jammu Tawi Himgiri Express, 12473 Ahmedabad-Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Sarvodaya Express, 12926 Amritsar-Bandra Terminus Pashchim Express, 22424 Amritsar-Gorakhpur Jansadharan Express, 11058 Amritsar-CST (Mumbai) Dadar Express, 12380 Amritsar-Sealdah Jallianwala Bagh Express.
• 1 to 3 hrs: 12237 Varanasi-Jammu Tawi Begumpura Express, 12204 Amritsar-Saharsa Garib Rath, 22431 Allahabad-Udhampur Superfast Express, 12484 Amritsar-Kochuveli Superfast Express, 15707 Katihar-Amritsar Amrapali Express, 22552 Jalandhar-Darbhanga Antyodaya Express, 15209 Saharsa-Amritsar Jansewa Express, 12357 Kolkata-Amritsar Durgiana Express, 22429 Delhi-Pathankot Superfast Express, 15211 Darbhanga-Amritsar Jannayak Express.

Traffic block

Due to the non-interlocking work at Dehri-on-Sone in Mughalsarai division between October 22 and 30, several trains passing through the city would remain cancelled or diverted. During this period, 18103 Tatanagar-Amritsar Jallianwala Bagh Express (Oct 24 and 29), 18104 Amritsar-Tatanagar Jallianwala Bagh Express (Oct 24 and 26), 13307/08 Dhanbad-Firozepur-Dhanbad Ganga Sutlej Express (Oct 23 to 29), 13151 Kolkata-Jammu Tawi Express (Oct 24 to 30), 13152 Jammu Tawi-Kolkata Express (Oct 22 to 28) would remain cancelled. Further, 12357/58 Kolkata-Amritsar/Kolkata Durgiana Express, 22317/18 Sealdah-Amritsar Humsafar Express and 12379/80 Sealdah-Amritsar Jallianwala Bagh Express trains would be diverted partially via alternate routes.