During holidays and festivals, excessive crowds and train delays are common occurrences. However, it gets worse in winter due to fog and loss of visibility across north India. Several trains are delayed or cancelled. A Kanpur man recently shared his plight on X (formerly Twitter) after his train was delayed by nine hours. He stated that he had no other choice but to hire an interstate taxi from Kanpur to Jhansi to avoid missing his connecting train. Even though he had a verified Tatkal ticket that he purchased for Rs 1,500, unfortunately, he had to spend Rs 4,500 for the cab journey to get to his destination on time.
"The train that I have to take at 1.15 pm at Kanpur arrived 9 hours late. I had to catch Rajdhani at Jhansi at 8.15 pm. So I came to know about (the train being) late at 2 pm. I have no other option other than taking Ola for Rs 4,500. And the Tatkal ticket was bought for Rs 1,500. Total Rs 6,000 loss," the user wrote on X on Wednesday.
Several users also shared their experience with train delays.
“My bua went from Delhi to New York faster than I went from Delhi to West Bengal (train is 16 hours late),” said a user.
Another added, “I am travelling from Nagpur-Hyderabad train number 12724 Telangana express -Hyderabad express. Train was supposed to come in the morning at 7.10 AM but arrived at 3.30 PM. I have my night shift at 8 PM but train is running 9 hrs late, who is responsible for my Loss of pay?”
Meanwhile, a user stated that he had to stand throughout the entire trip despite having a confirmed ticket. In a post, Abhas Kumar Shrivastava described the initial challenges of navigating through the crowded Rourkela Intercity train to reach his designated seat. Upon reaching his reserved seat, Mr Shrivastava discovered a pregnant woman occupying it. Rather than requesting her to vacate the seat, he opted to remain standing by the train door throughout the two-hour journey.
“Reserved a seat 4 days prior and got a confirmed ticket. It was only after somehow entering the train I realised I couldn't even reach my seat number 64,” he wrote. “After an hour when I reached my seat, I found a pregnant lady sitting on it, so just left and stood at the gate for two hours.. Thank you for so memorable a journey and a confirmed ticket to let me stand for the entire trip.”
