KOCHI: Lateness thy name is Railways. On Wednesday, the passengers of New Delhi-Thiruvananthapuram Kerala Express had to swallow an even bitter pill. After travelling for around two days, the passengers got a shock when they were told that the train is being diverted via Alappuzha. The passengers, including a lot of senior citizens and girl students, who were travelling to Kottayam, Changanassery, Tiruvalla and Chengannur became frantic since they hadn’t made any alternative travel arrangements from the respective stations.
“We didn’t know about the change in the route. It was only on Wednesday afternoon the TTR informed the passengers about the route change,” said Hima Nair, a pharmacy student. She was coming from Delhi along with her sister and had a lot of luggage. “We were so tired after travelling for so long and thanks to the Railways we weren’t able to reach home any sooner,” she said.
“How could we arrange another means of transport so late in the journey. My parents planned to reach Kottayam to collect us. We couldn’t ask them to come over to Alappuzha just like that,” said Hema Nair, who works as a nurse at a hospital in Rajasthan. “Even basic amenities like water in the toilet ran out,” said Omanamma, a 65-year-old who was travelling with her 70-year-old husband.
According to Hima, they were told that only a short halt enough to offload luggage will be allotted at Ernakulam Town. “The TTR told us that those who are travelling to Kottayam and the other stations on the route need to get down at Ernakulam Town. They told us that we could get on the Mumbai-Kochuveli train and travel on the ticket that we had,” she said.
Two nuns who were travelling on the train said, “There was utter confusion. Nobody was clarifying our doubts. The train set out late right from the beginning. If there was any deviation from the route plan, the Railways should have alerted us right at the starting station. To run 13 hours late and expect to make a profit? That is very far fetched.” No wonder more and more people prefer to take flights, they added. “Flying is hassle-free and economical,” said Hima.
The Railways, however, denied not passing on the information earlier. “We had published the renewed route plans in newspapers and also updated it on our websites. All the information was also tweeted,” said a railway officer. As for the late running of the train, he said, “The train started late and since other trains were running on its track, it had to be held back at stations. Once a train misses its time, its running has to be regulated to be in tandem with other trains.” The Railways has attributed the delay in train service to crack on tracks in Gwalior.