Agnipath protests derail Bengal-bound trains, leave passengers stranded – Times of India

KOLKATA: Thousands of railway passengers headed to Kolkata or out of Bengal had an agonizing time on Friday as more than 30 long-distance trains were cancelled and several others were short-terminated or rescheduled owing to blocks and even attacks by Army aspirants, protesting against the Agnipath recruitment scheme. Tourists, office-travellers, elderly residents and even examinees were either stranded or they struggled to reach their destinations safely.
Among the major trains cancelled were Hyderabad-Shalimar East Coast Express, Secunderabad-Howrah Falaknuma Express, Howrah-Amritsar Mail, Howrah-New Delhi Poorva Express, Howrah-Jammu Tawi Himgiri Express, Howrah-Patna Janshatabdi and Howrah-Dehradun Upasana Express. Passengers on Hyderabad-Shalimar East Coast Express had a traumatic experience when suddenly a mob, many of them wearing masks and brandishing sticks and metal rods, boarded the compartments around 9am. A group of elderly people returning to Kolkata from Hyderabad said they were so terrified that they ran out of the train, leaving behind their luggage and even Aadhaar cards.
“I was in S11 compartment, when there was a commotion on the platform. Two-three men entered our coach. . . They allowed us to vacate the train as they started breaking glasses and vandalising the train. It was scary,” said an elderly Kolkata resident, stuck in Hyderabad. Another Bengali passenger on the same train, who had to catch a connecting train to Siliguri from Sealdah on Saturday night, said he later booked a flight and hoped to make it to the connecting train.
Several trains, like Bhagalpur-Danapur Intercity Express, Jamalpur-Kiul DEMU Passenger Special and Delhibound Brahmaputra Mail short-terminated way behind their destinations. Navdeep, a passenger on Brahmaputra Mail, said the train had left Kamakhya in Assam on Thursday, seven hours behind schedule and arrived in Malda around 10. 30am on Friday. It was stuck there for some time befo- re being terminated. “We are a group of 40 going to Delhi. First the train started late from Kamakhya and now, it has stopped. How can we reach home?” he said.
Twitter was abuzz with queries. “My brother will probably miss his exam on Saturday. He is travelling from Patna to Kolkata. Right now, he is stuck on a train near Lakhisarai,” wrote Md Mahfooz Alam. Apassenger, Rajat Arora, tweeted, “My train no. 12320 Agra Cantt Kolkata Superfast is stuck for the last 5 hours. . . What is the ministry and Railways doing?”
(inputs by Ajanta Chakraborty and Subhro Maitra)