New Delhi: The ongoing Gujjar agitation over
the reservation issue and the foggy weather conditions in
North India have affected movement of more than 500 trains
during the last one week, causing widespread inconvenience to
passengers.
While 161 trains have been cancelled due to the combined
effect, 280 trains were diverted through alternative routes
during this period and some even reported running late by over
50 hours, a Railway Ministry official said.
Though the loss is yet to be quantified, it could run
into crores, he said.
While the relative absence of fog on Tuesday improved the
schedules marginally, Northern Railway had to still reschedule
the departure timings of about 20 trains as over 40 trains
arrived here several hours behind schedule.
On Monday, more than 80 trains had arrived here
During the day, nine trains were also cancelled, a
Northern Railway spokesperson said.
The Gujjar agitation saw Bandra-Nizamuddin Garib Rath
running late by over 52 hours, while August Kranti Rajdhani
express and Mumbai Rajdhani were also reported to be running
late by 32 hours and 17 hours respectively.
The foggy weather conditions over parts of North India
also led to the late running of trains from Orissa, West
Bengal, Assam and Bihar.
The Railways have also brought into force a change in the
signalling system in North Central Railway between Delhi and
Kanpur as an extra precautionary step to control train
movement during poor visibility, the official said.
PTI
