West Central Railway and Western Railway cancelled several Delhi-bound trains on Friday, citing anticipated heavy traffic congestion in the national capital and other operational reasons. The cancellations came a day before the Cockroach Janta Party’s planned protest at Jantar Mantar on Saturday, where it is set to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Asked whether the cancellations were linked to the planned protest, West Central Railway chief public relations officer Madhur Verma told PTI Videos, “There is no message regarding protests with us.” Replying to another query, he said the trains were cancelled because heavy traffic congestion was anticipated in the Delhi area.
Verma said the five cancelled trains were the Mahakaushal Express, Jabalpur-Nizamuddin Sampark Kranti, Jabalpur-Nizamuddin Superfast, Bhopal-Nizamuddin and Kota-Nizamuddin services.
In a separate release, the public relations officer of West Central Railway, Bhopal said, “Due to operational reasons, the railway administration has cancelled Train No. 22221 Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (Mumbai)-Hazrat Nizamuddin Rajdhani Express via Bhopal from its originating station on October 9.” The release added that the railway administration regretted the inconvenience caused to passengers.
Western Railway, meanwhile, said eight trains passing through the Ratlam division had been cancelled due to operational reasons, while two trains had been rescheduled. Ratlam divisional public relations officer Mukesh Kumar told PTI that the division had not received any information about the planned protest in Delhi, and that the decision was taken due to operational reasons.
The cancelled trains scheduled to depart on October 9 were the Dr Ambedkar Nagar-New Delhi Express, Indore-Hazrat Nizamuddin Express, Indore-New Delhi Intercity Express, and Bandra Terminus-Hazrat Nizamuddin Yuva Express. Their return services on October 10 were also cancelled. In addition, the Mumbai Central-New Delhi Rajdhani Express and the Mumbai Central-Hazrat Nizamuddin August Kranti Rajdhani Express were rescheduled by five hours on October 9. Overall, the railways said the cancellations and changes were made because of anticipated congestion in Delhi and other operational reasons.
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With inputs from PTI
