Ever boarded a train at its scheduled time if it’s not the starting point? If yes then praise your luck because in India if a train is late by 5-10 minutes, it is considered to be on time. The land where the railway department had to apologize a few years back for being 6 seconds late is Japan. In India 5-10 minutes late is not late, 20 minutes late is fine like anything, and if a train is late by an hour or two, it’s a regular thing to happen.
What would happen if a train arrives early on this land? What if the train is 90 minutes i.e. 1.5 hours early? Goa Express has recently done this wrong but unbelievable job. Forty-five passengers missed Vasco da Gama Nizamuddin-Goa Express from Manmad junction on Thursday without a fault of their own because the train arrived 1.5 hours early of its scheduled time and departed after a halt of 5 minutes.
This incident happened due to a route diversion but passengers were unaware of this development so they reached the station on the regular time which is 10:35 am while the train departed from Manmad junction at 09:10 am. The matter came to light only after passengers started gathering and came to know that the train has already departed. The agitated passengers then went to the station master to seek an explanation and an alternative arrangement for their journey.
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“The Goa Express, which usually runs via Miraj, Pune, and Daund before reaching the Manmad junction, was diverted. On Thursday, the train took the route via Ratnagiri, Panvel, Kalyan, and Nashik Road to reach Manmad. The diverted train arrived early at the Manmad junction. Ideally, it should have been made to wait till its time of regular departure. That did not happen”, said Shivraj Manaspure, the chief public relations officer of the central railway zone.
According to the officer, the 45 passengers who couldn’t board Goa Express were accommodated in Mumbai-Howrah Geetanjali Express. This train doesn’t have a scheduled halt at the Manmad junction but was made to stop there at 11:26 am.
