Title - Passengers have a tough time as Shatabdi runs late

PANCHKULA: City-bound passengers had a hard time when the evening Delhi-Chandigarh Shatabdi got delayed by around one-and-a-half hours due to a technical snag in the engine of another train in the block section near Panipat.

''Till the time the snag was not rectified, we could not allow the Shatabdi to move forward. On our side, no other train except the Shatabdi comes through that track. So it was only this train which got delayed,'' said Praveen Kumar, station superintendent of the Chandigarh railway station.

The Shatabdi was scheduled to reach at 8.40pm but it reached here only around 10.10pm. Many people who were waiting for their relatives and friends at the station also got restless, as it was not clear how long would the delay be.

''I have been waiting for long for my sister who's coming to Chandigarh from Delhi. We didn't expect a delay. What's worse, the railway authorities are also not sure how long would the delay be. Like sometimes they are making an announcement saying that the train would reach in ten minutes and sometimes they are saying that it would take half an hour. They should at least give definite information,'' said Falak Chauhan, a resident of Sector 15, Panchkula.

''The wait is quite harrowing. I have been calling up my son constantly, who is aboard the Shatabdi. The authorities should have given clear-cut information regarding what the problem is,'' said Rajeev Kundra, a resident of Sector 14,Panchkula, while waiting at the station.

'My whole schedule has been ruined. We are still waiting for the track to get cleared. I had to attend a function and was coming to Chandigarh for that only. But by the time I'll reach there, the function will get over,' rued Sanjeev Sharma, a resident of Sector 21, Chandigarh over a telephonic conversation with TOI.