The South Western Railway (SWR) is in damage control mode after the fiasco on Wednesday, when about 200 passengers were stranded at Yeshwantpur as their train had left six hours early due to the revised timings.
On Thursday, SWR issued a press statement regarding the change in timings of the Garib Rath tri-weekly express to Secunderabad so that those with e-tickets could also board the train at the right time.
The statement reads, “Consequent upon the increase in frequency of Train No.16571/16572 Yeshwantpur–Bidar, the timings of Train Nos.12735 /12736 Secunderabad–Yeshwantpur–Secunderabad Garib Rath tri-weekly express has been revised with effect from January 21. Therefore, Train No.12736 Yeshwantpur–Secunderabad Garib Rath tri-weekly express will leave Yeshwantpur at 13.30 hrs, instead of 19.15 hrs and will arrive at Secunderabad at 04.00 hrs, instead of 08.35 hrs.”
Train No.12735 Secunderabad–Yeshwantpur Garib Rath tri-weekly express leaves Secunderabad at 19.50 hrs, instead of 19.15 hrs and arrives at Yeshwantpur at 11.15 hrs, instead of 07.40 hrs.
The train has services from Secunderabad every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday and from Yeshwantpur every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
As per the SWR officials, it was the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) website, which had some issues with its server, that led to the wrong timings on the e-tickets. Those who had bought tickets over the counter had the revised timings printed on the ticket. However, IRCTC officials in Delhi claimed that the goof-up was due to a fault by the SWR and the same was being looked into.
Consequently, the display board at the Yeshwantpur Railway Station was also showing the old timing for the train’s departure i.e.19:15, instead of the new timings i.e.13:30.
Officials in SWR said that there was indeed an error in the display board and the same had been rectified already.
An official from IRCTC said that the matter was being investigated by the competent officials and the report would be out most likely on Friday (January 23).