Several long distance trains have been hit due to the Jat quota agitation in Haryana which falls under Northern Railway. Garden Reach, headquarters of the South Eastern Railway notified cancellation of two long distance trains Tatanagar—Jammu Tawi Express and Rourkela-Muri Jammu Tawi link Express on Monday. Both the trains travel via various stations of Haryana, which is witnessing the agitation. Moreover, Haridwar-Puri Utkal Express train has also been cancelled for next three days.
Station manager at Tatanagar, O P Sharma said due to agitation the decision has been taken. He said that they are hopeful that the long distance trains will get normalised in coming days. “We have no choice but to cancel the trains. The step was taken keeping in view the safety of passengers. Jat agitation in North has badly affected the traffic,” said a railway spokesperson at Garden Reach.
Numerous passengers have been facing trouble due to the delay and cancelation in long-distance trains and the situation is unchanged for the past few days. Trains for other destinations like Mumbai and Kolkata were running normally. “We are finding it difficult to reach our village in Haryana. We are relying on various other trains which are either running on diverted route or are crowded with passengers,” said Roshan lal, a Bistupur-based stationary dealer.
The Tatanagar station assumes importance in view because it is located on the Howrah-Mumbai main route. Several important trains travel via Tatanagar, including the high-profile Rajdhani Express and Duronto Express. The station sees a daily traffic of 90 mail, express and passenger trains, besides a footfall of more than 60,000 passengers.