Torture tales from 8-hour train trap

KOLKATA/JALPAIGURI: Clutching on to a stick, 93-year-old Amiya Madhab Chakraborty leant unsteadily on his son’s shoulder. He could barely drag his feet along the Sealdah station platform, sweating and often gasping for breath. Along with scores of others, Chakraborty was holed up inside in a stuffy compartment of the Uttar Banga Express — that came to a halt following a rail blockade at Kishanganj — for eight hours on Wednesday evening.
By the time the train reached Kolkata on Thursday afternoon, he could barely speak. Hundreds travelling by the Teesta-Torsha Express, Kanchankanya Express and the Darjeeling Mail had a similar ordeal.
It’s a nightmare that the nonagenarian or any of his fellow passengers are unlikely to forget in a hurry. Barely an hour-and-half after the train chugged out of New Cooch Behar, it was halted at Jalpaiguri Road station. For the next eight hours, it stood there waiting for the signal to turn green. "Being a small station, the announcements were irregular and all that we knew was that a rail-roko has stopped trains. Fortunately, most of us carried food or else we would have starved. But there was no water at the station and our stocks ran out in a few hours. I was worried about my father because he started feeling ill after a while. I have never had a more harrowing train journey," said Subhamoy Chakraborty.
Uttar Banga was the first of the stranded trains to reach Kolkata. It chugged into platform 9A of Sealdah station at 2.35pm, followed by Kanchankanya Express a half hour later.
Passengers who boarded Kanchankanya at New Jalpaiguri station had a nightmarish experience. They were kept waiting for the train till 3am on Thursday — six hours after scheduled departure. There was no place to sit on the crowded platform. Children and the elderly suffered the worst. "We were forced to wait on the road outside the station. Thankfully, the shops remained open so food and water were available," said Anirban Ghosh, a doctor on his way back from a trip to the Dooars. The railways, Ghosh felt, should have made sure that the passengers were accommodated in the waiting rooms.
Some, however, didn’t blame the railways. "There was little that they could do since the tracks were blocked in Kishanganj (Bihar). Announcements were made fairly regularly. There was enough food and water on the train. Those kept waiting at the stations had a torrid time, though," said Supriyo Deb, who was travelling by Kanchankanya .
Kalyan Sarkar boarded the Kanchankanya Express from Alipurduar on Wednesday. He was on his way to Kolkata for his ailing mother’s medical check-up. The train that left Alipurduar at 4.35pm reached NJP – only 168km away – well after midnight. Like many others, Kalyan opted out of the journey. He went to a Siliguri hotel, spent the night there and boarded a general coach of the Darjeeling Mail, which was rescheduled on Thursday morning.
Biraj Acharya, who had boarded the Uttar Banga Express at Cooch Behar, also considered opting out when the train got stuck at Jalpaiguri Road. "But there was no transport. The railways should have acted more responsibly ," said Acharya.
Many people missed their appointments and job interviews . A tripartite meeting for tea wage revision in Kolkata had to be postponed as tea-garden union members could not arrive due to the train disruption.