A protest at the Barhiya railway station in Bihar has disrupted train services on the East Central Railway (ECR) zone’s Patna-Kolkata route, officials said on Monday.
According to Sanjay Kumar, the District Magistrate of Lakhisarai, a large number of people squatted on the tracks at the station, about 120 kilometers from Patna, to press their demand that a number of express trains that had no scheduled halts at Barhaiya be made to do so for the convenience of local commuters.
Attempts by the DM and Railway DSP Imran Parvez to persuade the agitators to call off their agitation were fruitless, and as night fell, they began cooking meals on the tracks, indicating their unwillingness to back down.
ECR has cancelled over a dozen trains and redirected over two dozen others scheduled for Delhi, Kolkata, Guwahati, and other districts of north Bihar and Jharkhand due to the protest.
The Howrah-Delhi Express, Asansol-Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus Express, Amritsar-Howrah Express, and Kamakhya-Delhi Express were among the 29 long-distance trains that plied alternate routes, according to an ECR announcement.
According to sources, ECR agitators and authorities convened at a table for talks, but they failed. According to an ECR official, the department is prepared to stop the Patliputra Express train, but the agitators want other trains to be stopped. At Barhiya railway station, agitators have blocked the Patliputra Express train for more than 20 hours.
“We have cancelled and redirected several trains due to Dharna and protest at Barhiya railway station,” ECR PRO Virendra Kumar said. The demonstrators are currently negotiating.”
