Railway authorities set up enquiry and assistance booths at Sealdah and Howrah stations in the wake of the Kanchenjunga Express crash.
The helpline numbers at Sealdah station kept buzzing throughout the day. While a section of the callers enquired about relatives and friends on the ill-fated train, many others called to check about possible diversions and schedules of trains they were supposed to board.
A handful of people came to Sealdah station, frantically looking for information on passengers on the Kanchenjunga Express.
Ajit Mishra, 29, was one of them. Mishra, who came from Salt Lake, was looking for information on his elder brother Biswapratap Mishra who was on the train.
A police help desk at Sealdah station on Monday.
His brother was travelling from Guwahati to Sealdah. His ticket was not confirmed initially. He boarded the train at the last moment.
“I called him at 7.30am (on Monday). That was the last time we spoke. I saw the gory pictures of the crash on TV and tried calling him several times. But the call would not go through. That is why I came here,” said Mishra.
At the assistance counter, a railway employee shared the emergency helpline of NJP station with Mishra. Till late on Monday, Mishra could not establish contact with his brother.
“I will stay here until the train arrives from north Bengal,” said Mishra.
The spokesperson of Eastern Railway said the Kanchenjunga Express left the accident site — without the two affected rear coaches — around 12.40pm. It is supposed to reach Sealdah early on Tuesday.
The telephone lines at the assistance counters kept ringing non-stop. Many callers asked about the status of the train and when was it expected to leave the accident site. The reservation chart of the train, with the list of passengers, was laid out on a table in front of them.
Many other callers wanted to know about possible cancellations and diversions.
Shampa Mallik, a New Alipore resident, came to the counter with her son. She was due to travel to Alipurduar where her husband is posted, on the Teesta-Torsa Express.
“I am very anxious. But the man at the counter told me that the train should leave on time,” Mallik told Metro.
The Teesta-Torsa Express left Sealdah at the scheduled departure of 3pm on Monday.
A bunch of trains between NJP and Malda were cancelled and many more had to be diverted because of the accident. Some of the diverted trains are:
- New Jalpaiguri-Udaipur City Weekly Express
- Dibrugarh-New Delhi Rajdhani Express
- Sealdah-New Alipurduar Padatik Express
- Howrah-NJP Vande Bharat
- Guwahati-Howrah Saraighat Express
- Guwahati-Bangalore Express
- NJP-Howrah Vande Bharat
- Dibrugarh-Howrah Kamrup Express
- Bamanhat-Sealdah Uttar Banga Express
- New Alipurduar-Sealdah Teesta Torsa Express
- Haldibari-Sealdah Darjeeling Mail
- New Alipurduar-Sealdah Padatik