The railway department having cancelled 16 trains till 14 July on account of the non-interlocking works on the tracks of a railway station near Meerut city, the Kanwar pilgrims from north western parts of India who avail trains to come to Haridwar are in deep trouble along with the regular passengers.
Bandra Express which travels up to Dehradun would not run from July 2 to July 14 while the same train going from Dehradun to Bandra would remain cancelled from July 4 to July 16. Superfast train from lokmanya Tilak to Haridwar would not run on July 3, 6, 10 and 13 and the same train going from Haridwar to lokmanya Tilak would not run on July, 4, 7, 11 and 14. While Ujjaini Express would not reach Roorkee on July 5, 6, 12 and 13 Indore Express going from Dehradun to Indore would remain cancelled on July 7, 8 and 14 with the same train going from Indore to Dehradun remaining cancelled from July 8,9 and 10. Balsar Express from Balsar to Haridwar would also remain cancelled from July 4 to July 11 while the same train from Haridwar to Balsar would not run from July 6 to 12. Kochiwali Doon Express would be off the tracks on July 7 while the same train from Doon to Kochiwali would remain cancelled on July 10. Uttranchal Express from Okha to Doon would not run on July 7 while the same train from Doon to Okha would be off the tracks on July 9.
Expressing concern on the cancellation of the trains, a regular Kanwad pilgrim Ramesh Kumar said, “I was planning to bring my friends from Gujarat for this Kanwar pilgrimage. We planned to meet in Delhi and then head to Haridwar. But now, everything would have to be changed in view of the cancellation of so many important trains.”
Another Kanwad pilgrim from Rajasthan echoed the same sentiment, saying that they would have to take buses to reach Haridwar. “This would cost us more aside from consuming more time,” he added.