Passengers block train tracks due to inaudible announcement in station

Kolkata: Tension sparked off at Belgharia Railway station on Friday morning after passengers encroached upon the railway tracks and disrupted train services for nearly an hour.

The rail blockade was triggered because of alleged inaudible announcement of the arrival and departure of trains since the morning. A number of local trains, both in the UP and Down section was late because of the protest.

"This has been continuing for the last few days. There is hardly any announcement and if there is at all any, it is inaudible. We have brought this to the notice of the railway authorities on more than one occasion but things have not changed," a daily commuter Sitaram Ghosh said.

A number of passengers sat upon the tracks demanding running of trains as per schedule. There has been more than one instances when office-goers have missed trains due to this problem regarding announcement. It was only after senior railway officials rushed to the spot and promised to take steps was the blockade lifted.

Meanwhile, Metro services in the city was also disrupted for nearly 20 minutes when there was a snag in the changing line at the terminating Kavi Subhas station. Through this line, a train changes tracks for its return journey to Dum Dum. The snag was reported at around 11.15 am on Friday morning. Passengers complained that trains ran late for nearly an hour because of the problem. In August, protesters blocked railway tracks at Nungi and Akra stations in Sealdah-Budgebudge South section disrupting movement of local trains. The blockade was called to protest against irregular running of local trains in the section which had caused inconvenience to office-goers, students and businessmen in the area, a protester alleged.