When the first Vande Bharat Express was introduced in Kerala last April, cutting the 573km journey between Thiruvananthapuram and Kasaragod from 12-13 hours to 8 hours, it met with an ecstatic welcome.

Many had a second reason to rejoice: they saw the train as an answer to the Left government’s proposed — and widely reviled — semi-high-speed rail network that is expensive and entails land acquisition for fresh tracks.

The Malayalam media went on an overdrive to cover every inch of the inaugural Vande Bharat run, and the BJP tried its best to extract political mileage.

Six months on, the joy has given way to commuter protests against the state’s current two Vande Bharat trains — the second introduced in September — both of which connect Thiruvananthapuram and Kasaragod, one via Kottayam and the other via Alappuzha.

The complaint is that the two Vande Bharats, which run up and down every day six days a week, are given the right of way at the expense of short-distance trains and their thousands of daily commuters, mainly office-goers and students.

The daily commuters are now protesting the railways’ practice of holding back multiple trains to let the high-profile and more expensive Vande Bharat — which caters mostly to businessmen, politicians and well-to-do elderly people — pass.

The protesters have gathered under the banner of Dhurithamee Yatra, which roughly translates as “miserable journey”.

Daily train commuters protest at Cherthala railway station. The Telegraph

A commuters’ organisation named Friends on Rails has emailed a letter to railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw seeking a solution.

“These delays have disrupted their daily routine, family arrangements, work commitments, punctuality at workplaces and educational institutions, especially for women passengers,” the October 22 letter said.

“Passengers arriving late at their destinations are unable to find public transport to reach their residence.”

To circumvent the problem, many daily commuters have begun taking earlier trains that leave very early in the morning, thus giving up precious hours of sleep or family time.

“Now, these early trains are overcrowded, as commuters are jostling for space even near the doorway making the journeys very dangerous,” Friends on Rails secretary Liyons J told The Telegraph on Wednesday.

Apparently, several passengers have fainted on these overcrowded early trains, bringing the Kerala Human Rights Commission into the picture. Its acting chairperson, K. Baiju Nath, recently wrote to the Palakkad railway division to submit a report suggesting solutions within 15 days.

The misery continues even on return trips in the evenings, with delays causing many commuters to miss the last bus, or some other form of road transport, that they need to reach home after the train journey.

“Some daily commuters reach home way beyond 10pm and 11pm as their trains arrive very late. This has affected the quality of life in a big way,” said Liyons, a schoolteacher who commutes between Kollam and Varkala near Thiruvananthapuram every morning and evening.

The Vande Bharat that goes via Kottayam leaves Thiruvananthapuram Central at 5.20am to reach Kasaragod at 1.20pm. It leaves Kasaragod at 2.20pm to reach Thiruvananthapuram at 10.35pm.

The second Vande Bharat leaves Thiruvananthapuram at 4.05pm to reach Kasaragod at 11.58pm. It leaves Kasaragod at 7am the following day and reaches Thiruvananthapuram at 3.05pm.

Friends on Rails has suggested the timings be tweaked, saying the first Vande Bharat should leave Thiruvananthapuram by 5am latest and the second leave the state capital at 3.30pm.

Junior foreign minister and BJP leader V. Muraleedharan, who belongs to Kerala, said the revised railway schedule, to be released soon, would resolve the issue.

“Vande Bharat was introduced in Kerala when the revision of the railway timetable was going on,” he told reporters on Monday.

“The railways had two options, to wait until the revision of the timetable was over or make arrangements to run the trains before the revision was completed. I expect the new timetable to help resolve the problems.”

Not everyone is blaming the Vande Bharat, anyway.

K.J. Paul Manvettom, a businessman who commutes from Kottayam to Ernakulam every day on a short-distance train and heads the All Kerala Railway Users’ Association, said some “minor adjustments” to the Vande Bharat timings would solve the problems.

“Trains like the Venad Express (which he takes and which connects Thiruvananthapuram with Ernakulam) had been facing delays even before the launch of the Vande Bharat. So it’s not right to blame the Vande Bharat for everything,” Manvettom, who claims to have been commuting on trains for 58 years, said.

Brakes on welfare yatra in poll-bound states

New Delhi: The Election Commission of India has asked cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba to ensure that the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra, meant to highlight the Centre’s welfare measures, is not conducted in poll-bound constituencies until counting for the Assembly elections ends on December 5.

On Monday, public broadcaster Akashvani reported that the Yatra — a two-month-long series of programmes — would begin on November 20. Also on Monday, the Central Bureau of Communication, which functions under the I&B ministry, floated a tender for publicity material for the Yatra.

PHEROZE L. VINCENT