Jagran correspondent, Jamshedpur. The worst impact of nature's attack has been on the wheels of the Indian Railways, a glimpse of which was seen at Tatanagar Railway Station on Sunday. Due to dense fog in North India, the operation of trains coming from New Delhi and other far-flung areas has been severely disrupted.
The situation at Tatanagar station was such that passengers kept staring at the platform for hours in the hope of reaching their destination. The crowd at the inquiry center of the station was such that there was no space to step, and everyone was just desperate to know the exact status of their train. The white wall of fog has forced loco pilots to slow down their speed, due to which even superfast trains are crawling like passenger trains reaching the station.
Major trains running late and problems for passengers
Purushottam Express from New Delhi to Puri reached Tatanagar about seven hours late from its scheduled time. Similarly, Kalinga Utkal Express coming from Haridwar also arrived late by five hours after getting stuck in the maze of fog.
The condition of Jammu Tawi-Tata Express was even worse, which was running late by about nine hours. Important trains like Howrah-Mumbai Mail and Azad Hind Express also arrived late by three to four hours. This delay in trains tested the patience of the passengers.
Anita Das, a resident of Sakchi, sitting with her family on platform number one, said that she had to go to Cuttack and waiting for five hours in the cold with small children feels like a mountain. Due to the waiting room being completely full, elderly passengers were seen forced to sit on sheets spread on the floor.
Meanwhile, Rakesh Kumar, who had traveled from Delhi, shared his pain and said that after Kanpur, the speed of the train became so slow that the journey seemed never-ending. Cold, hunger and thirst spoiled the fun of the journey. Railway officials say that for safety reasons, it is mandatory to keep the speed of trains low in fog and at present this situation is likely to persist till the weather clears.