Title - Thousands of train passengers stranded

Abrupt power failure on the second consecutive day wrecked havoc on the rail passengers in the Capital with movement of dozens of trains getting affected. Thousands of passengers were left stranded at all the major stations as rail services came to standstill for more than two hours. Worst affected were the Rajdhani Express trains that were scheduled 2 pm onwards. A number of passengers for these trains had already left for the railway stations and were left stranded for want of proper information on the rescheduled time of departure. While Dibrugarh Rajdhani was rescheduled to depart four hours late, passengers of Kolkata Rajdhani were stuck on the platform as train could not proceed from New Delhi.According to the Northern Railways, 41 trains were stranded at different stations across the zone while over a dozen trains originating or terminating from Delhi were either rescheduled. Officials said train services were affected due to collapse of the Northern grid, giving a harrowing time to passengers. “The service was disrupted at around 1 pm due to power failure. The services were gradually restored in a phased manner. By 4 pm, the train operation had returned to normalcy. Trains like Rajdhani and Shatabdi were given preference while clearing the backlog,” said a senior Northern Railway official.

However, unlike Monday, most of the stranded trains on Tuesday were towed to the nearest railway stations so that the passengers could get basic facilities. Some of the important trains that were affected include Amritsar Swarn Shatabdi Express, Dibrugarh Rajdhani, Shan-e-Punjab Express, Gomti Express, New Delhi - Howrah Duronto Express and Shramjeevi Express among others. The rescheduling of trains left the passengers a confused lot. “The train was scheduled to leave at 1 pm. I had left from my Vasant Kunj residence at 11 am. Just when the train was about to depart, the power failure delayed the train. Its 3.30 pm and there is no information as to when will the train leave,” said Vipin Sharma, a passenger of Howrah Duronto Express.