Railways ‘wagon tragedy’ for Vande Bharat, passengers collapse

KANNUR: The railways act of halting several trains to provide the smooth journey of Vande Bharat is still continuing. It is creating severe inconvenience to passengers due to the halting of trains stuffed with passengers including women and children. The Mangaluru-Nagercoil Parasuram Express, which was overcrowded, was halted for half an hour for Vande Bharat at Thikkodi the other day. Two female passengers who were in it collapsed due to the crowd and the high temperature. They were brought to Kozhikode railway station after giving them first aid. The train reached Kozhikode one hour late due to the halting of it for half an hour at Thikkodi.

It is alleged that despite widespread complaints and protests against the halting of trains, the railway authorities are pretending not to have seen it. The passengers had come with a different protest to open the eyes of the railways. The passengers on the Alappuzha route protested by wearing badges written 'Durithamee Yatra'.

The passengers complain that the railways are deliberately delaying other important trains in Kerala so that new trains including Vande Bharat run on time. The complaint is that trains like Intercity, Palaruvi, Rajdhani and Ernad are delayed by 45 minutes for Vande Bharat.

The passengers protested in Thiruvananthapuram after Venad, which starts at 5.05 am was rescheduled to 5.25 am. Complaints are being raised that the sudden rescheduling is causing great inconvenience to the regular passengers. The Kayamkulam Express departing from Ernakulam at 6.05 pm has been delayed by 40 minutes recently. Trains including Jan Shatabdi and Nagercoil-Kottayam passenger are also running late. The railways claim that the trains are delayed due to maintenance.

K J Paul Manvettam, president of All Kerala Railway Passengers Association, said that as the trains are running late, the other trains are overcrowded.