BENGALURU: The South Western Railways on Friday night announced that 47 commuter trains in Karnataka have been cancelled over the weekend due to “inevitable technical and operational reasons”, which drew flak from the public for making the announcement at the last minute. An official said the trains were cancelled in view of the General Departmental Competitive Exam which is due on Sunday for filling up positions of Goods Train Managers.
Loco pilots had gone on leave for exam
She said most of the people appearing for the exam are loco pilots who are on leave and hence the trains have been cancelled. The train services are expected to resume from Monday. “The idea to cancel the trains and schedule the exam over the weekend is because office-goers and college students are much less in numbers during the weekend and hence the impact of the cancellation would be less,” said the official.
She also stated that the KSRTC and BMTC were told in advance to introduce additional buses over the weekend to compensate for the absence of trains. Sandeep Anirudha, convenor, Bengaluru Agenda for Mobility said, “It shows their irresponsible behaviour. Many people will show up at railway stations only to be told that the trains are cancelled”.
Most of the trains that have been cancelled ply from Bengaluru to Tumkaru, Ramanagara, Hubballi, Hosapete, Shivamogga, Bangarpet, Whitefield, Mysuru, Chamarajanagar and Vijaypura. Four other trains have also been cancelled/regulated/rescheduled due to a line block for technical works between Saunshi and Hubballi.