On Sunday afternoon, several stranded passengers at Sir M Visvesvaraya Terminal (SMVT) in Bengaluru boarded trains to their hometowns as railway operations resumed.
Following the train tragedy at Bahanaga Bazar station in Odisha, thousands of passengers found themselves stranded at SMVT station due to train cancellations caused by the ongoing rescue and restoration efforts at the accident site.
Many of the stranded passengers were migrant workers on their way home to West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, and Assam. They spent the night at the station with limited information about when train services would resume.
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On Sunday, the BBMP arranged for the provision of food and medical assistance to these stranded passengers.
Around 3 pm, approximately 50 to 80 people were seen resting near the entrance doors and inside the train station. Some arrived on Sunday morning, while others had arrived the previous night.
A family from Shivamogga mentioned that despite arriving at 9 pm on Saturday, they opted to wait until Sunday to board a less crowded train. One of them said,"We were informed of the rescheduled trains but we decided to wait it out because the trains seemed crowded today as everyone was rushing to get home."
This family has to board another train at Howrah to reach their village near Jalpaiguri, approximately 600 km away.
A couple, sitting on a blanket inside the station, expressed the same concerns.
"We need to reach Kharagpur and then travel by road. We have been here since morning but we didn't want to board the trains after seeing the crowd. We are hoping to leave by Monday afternoon," they said.
According to railway authorities, five trains departed from SMVT station on Sunday after being rescheduled, carrying the majority of the crowd that had camped at the station overnight.
Train number 12295 SMVB-Danapur Sanghamitra Express departed at 12.22 pm instead of the originally scheduled 09.15 am, and 22354 from Bengaluru to Patna departed at 02.35 pm.
Trains 22305 from Bengaluru to Jasidih Junction, initially scheduled to depart at 10 am, finally left at 1.04 pm. Additionally, 12864 from Bengaluru to Howrah departed at 3.49 pm instead of 10.35 am, and 12246 from Bengaluru to Howrah departed at 1.44 pm instead of 11.20 am.
The South Western Railway has cancelled two express trains, 12246 and 12864, from SMVT Bengaluru to Howrah that were scheduled to depart on Monday.