Ghaziabad: The puja was planned and the tickets were in hand. Then, with barely a day’s notice, the Tejas Rajdhani Express that Sashi Shekhar Mishra’s elderly parents were to board from Patna was cancelled.Across the NCR, job joinings, client meetings and family gatherings have been put on hold after Indian Railways cancelled and rescheduled train services ahead of a protest in Delhi on Saturday by the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP). The railways cited anticipated severe road congestion around New Delhi and Hazrat Nizamuddin stations for the disruption of services. A statement issued by ministry of railways said trains leaving their originating stations after 2 pm on Friday and due at either station between 4 am and 2 pm on Saturday will be cancelled.The affected services include Rajdhani, Tejas Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains, along with several mail, express and suburban services. A Northern Railway notice lists trains linking Delhi with Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana and other regions among the ones affected.For passengers and their relatives, the announcement came too late to plan around.“My elderly parents who live in Patna had planned to visit us in Noida on Saturday. We had puja planned on Pitru Paksha. They had made all arrangements to board Rajendra Nagar Terminal-New Delhi Tejas Rajdhani Express at 7.10 pm from Patna railway station but now we hear that it has been cancelled. The announcement was so abrupt that at this point we can’t even make alternative arrangements,” said Mishra, who lives in Noida Sector 79.Abhishek Jha, a chartered accountant, was due in Noida’s Sector 82 for an important meeting with a foreign client. His usual train, the Lucknow Mail, is among those cancelled. “I am yet to inform my client about it as I am still figuring out how to attend the meeting on time,” he said.For Sumit Kumar, a Bihar native who works in a garment factory in Delhi, the cancellation threatens his job. He held a ticket on the Sampoorna Kranti Express, which leaves Patna’s Rajendra Nagar Terminal at 7.20 pm and reaches Delhi at 7.55 am the next day.“I wanted to reach Delhi to join my first job. However, the train has been cancelled now, and I need to book another ticket. But there are hardly any seats available in the next few weeks,” he said.At Ghaziabad station, a railway officer said the instructions had come from above. “So far, we have received direction from high-ups that 75 trains to and from New Delhi and Hazrat Nizamuddin stations will be cancelled from source stations. We are, to the best of our capacity, trying to assuage the situation,” the officer said.At Ghaziabad railway station, several passengers had turned up for queries. “We are asking passengers to keep themselves updated through RailOne App or NTES app on real-time train movement,” he said.Ghaziabad, on the Delhi-Howrah line, is among the busiest stations in the region, with more than 200 trains passing through each day. At least 12 of them will be hit, including the Magadh Express, Sampoorna Kranti Express, Rajendra Nagar-New Delhi Shatabdi Express, Prayagraj Express and Humsafar Express. Most run from Patna, Lucknow, Prayagraj and Varanasi.The disruption extends to rapid rail services as well. The NCRTC said in an advisory that Namo Bharat services will remain closed at Sarai Kale Khan and New Ashok Nagar stations from 9 pm on Friday until 10 pm on Saturday. Services between Anand Vihar and Modipuram will run as scheduled.
