Dhaka-bound Maitree Express remained stranded for over three hours at Nadia’s Kalyani station on Tuesday morning as a blockade by daily passengers at the next station, Madanpur, held up train services in the Sealdah North section.

Angry passengers staged a demonstration on tracks to demand MEMU coaches with narrow doors be withdrawn during rush morning hours, convert all nine-coach EMU rakes into 12-coach ones and halt all galloping trains at Madanpur station.

Madanpur is a relatively small station in Nadia district, hence many galloping trains give it a pass.

The blockade started at 7.30am, a little ahead of Madanpur rail gate, when Sealdah-bound Ranaghat local with MEMU rakes was stopped. It lasted over four hours, halting train services till 11.40am on Sealdah-Krishnagar, Sealdah-Lalgola, Sealdah-Santipur and Sealdah-Gede stretches.

It finally lifted after the RPF and GRP officials gave the agitating passengers a written assurance to take up their grievances with the Eastern Railways authorities.

As a result of the blockade, Kolkata-Dhaka Maitree Express, which was bound for the Bangladesh capital, had to take an unscheduled halt at the Kalyani station, where it remained stranded for almost three-and-a-half hours till the protesters at Madanpur station cleared the tracks.

The Behrampore-bound Hazarduari Express also had to take an unscheduled stop at Kalyani station.

Several other trains were stranded at other stations along the route.

“We are sorry for the trouble passengers suffered today. But we have been suffering every day because of the illogical operations of trains. There is a long gap between trains at Madanpur in the morning rush hour. So the number of daily passengers goes up. Then, the ER authorities run MEMU rakes from Ranaghat after gaps. Passengers have to jostle hard to enter
these trains with narrow entrances. We have earlier repeatedly asked for EMU rakes with wider doors and more space for some comfort and safety of passengers. But the ER authorities did not
listen to our appeals, which prompted our protest,” said Swapan Debnath, a daily passenger from Madanpur who took part in the blockade on Tuesday.

“We lifted the blockade on Tuesday respecting the assurances given by the GRP and RPF officials. We will wait till September 2 and take further steps unless our demands are met,” another daily passenger said.

He said that thousands like him commute daily under extremely hazardous conditions because the trains are extremely crowded. If their demands are met, the crowd management during daily rush hour on trains would be far better, he added.

An Eastern Railways spokesperson said: “The agitators were in no mood to talk, rather they prolonged the troubles for the other passengers.”

However, the spokesperson added that the issues the passengers raised would be taken up at the DRM level.