Students’ protests in Bihar disrupt Eastern Rly services

The students’ protest demanding early setting up of Aligarh Muslim University campus in Kishangunj in Bihar has thrown the trains’ schedule in the eastern part of the country out of gear for the second successive day on Thursday.

However, rail services were slowly returning to normal after the students ended their agitation late Wednesday night, said Railway officials.

According to a press release by Eastern Railway, six long-distance trains were rescheduled and the Sealdah-Saharsa Hatey Bazare Express train was cancelled.

Harassed passengers, some of whom had endured halts for long hours at stations that were not equipped to cater to the needs, continued to reach Howrah and Sealdah stations here.

Darjeeling Mail and Padatik Express could depart from Sealdah Station well after midnight on Wednesday after the agitation was lifted at Kishanganj station. Darjeeling Mail which was scheduled to depart at 10.05 pm, left at 12.50 am on Wednesday. Trains that were stuck at various places in North Bengal arrived several hours late on Thursday. Kanchan Kanya Express arrived at Seldah station at 3.10 pm on Thursday, hours after its scheduled arrival.

“The train services became normal after the midnight when the strike was called off. Today, there has been no cancellation of trains,” said S Hazan, the CPRO of North Eastern Frontier Railway.

Railways has lodged an FIR against a Bihar MP and 13 others, including some local MLAs, for “obstructing rail traffic” that affected services in the North East Frontier Railway network.