dna rail revolution: Harrowing time for 14 elderly women after train makes a 2-hr unscheduled stop at Chinchpokli

A group of 14 senior citizens had a harrowing time on Sunday morning, when their train came to a halt for over two hours at Chinchpokli station and no railway staffer allegedly assisted them.

Borivli resident, Purnima Ved, 71, said, "We, a group of 14 ladies, had gone to Pandharpur on a pilgrimage and had boarded the Pandharpur Fast Passenger on Saturday evening."

The train was already behind schedule. On Sunday morning, it was to reach Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) at 4am, but came to a halt at 6.30am on the fast lines of Chinchpokli, where there aren't any platforms. At Chinchpokli station, platforms are only for slow trains.

When the train didn't move for a long time, passengers started getting off and crossing railway tracks to reach their destinations.

"Later, when I checked other compartments of the train, I found them empty. Even the Travelling Ticket Examiner did not assist us and got off the train. I was forced to make an SOS call to my brother who asked his son and other youth to come to our rescue as it is difficult for us to cross tracks and climb on platform," said Ved.

Meanwhile, a couple of outstation trains overtook Pandharpur Fast Passenger to head to CST. It was only between 8.30am and 8.45am that the train started moving toward CST, where the group lodged a complaint with the station manager.

"Our concern is that in such cases there should be some responsible railway staffer to attend to senior citizens. What was even more problematic was the unavailability of drinking water," said Ved.

Despite repeated attempts, spokesperson of Central Railway did not respond to questions on why the train was made to wait for over two hours and why the passengers were left in the lurch.