Sujata Banerjee coming from Madhya Pradesh to join her office in Software Park in Dehradun was made to carry her heavy suitcase along with her hand bag in the scorching heat while walking all the way from Haridwar station to hire a taxi to reach Dehradun. “The porter demanding Rs 200 to lift my luggage from platform to the taxi stand, I chose to walk the way,” she said, while recounting her experience after the railway department enforced the traffic block on eight important trains, making them to originate from and terminate at Haridwar station in place of Dehradun station to facilitate construction works on the tracks. Notably, the traffic block was enforced on Monday and it would continue till May 22. The trains on which the block has been enforced include Shatabdi Express, Kochiwali Express, Dehradun Madurai Express, Upasana Express, Ujjaini Express, Indore Express, Okhla Gujarat Express , link Express and Kathgodam Express,
On Tuesday, however, things eased a little as the passengers booked on Shatabdi commuted via Gorakhpur link Express.
Speaking to The Pioneer, station superintendent M K Singh said, “Nearly 60 passengers booked on Shatabdi Express were sent through Gorakhpur link Express. Trains running in the morning are not being affected and there is no passenger who has cancelled trip on Tuesday.” However, the evening link Express which came at 6 pm saw the people scurrying desperately to catch the train.
On Monday, as the Dehradun- New Delhi Shatabdi Express reached Haridwar the passengers were provided with AC busses to reach Dehradun. However, the luck of the passengers of other two trains like Indore Express and link Express was not so good as they were asked to find their own mode of transport.
A frustrated passenger Monish lal from Indore was found sitting for a few hours outside the office of the station superintendent, asking him to arrange transport for him, but to no avail. At night, he left the station to continue with his journey.
“We had made arrangement for Shatabdi passengers though AC bus on Monday and also allowed the people returning from Dehradun to avail the same bus that started at 4 pm. Announcement was made at Dehradun terminal in advance to spare the passengers the inconvenience of the conveyance,” said M K Singh, the station superintendent. “The railway department has also opened separate refund counters at the railway station,” added Singh.
However, there were problems related to parcels, admitted the department officials since the parcels marked for Dehradun are being offloaded in Haridwar and sent to Dehradun through other trains.
Woes of the passengers mounting with each day, tickets are being cancelled in their hordes thanks to the rescheduling of some of the important trains.