LUCKNOW: Indian Railways has ordered the cancellation of all Mail and Express trains departing from their originating stations after 2pm on Friday and scheduled to reach New Delhi or Hazrat Nizamuddin railway stations between 4am and 2pm on Saturday, Oct 10, citing anticipated severe road traffic congestion around the two stations.The directive, issued by the Railway Board’s coaching directorate on Oct 9, has led to the cancellation of several important services connecting Lucknow, Prayagraj, Kanpur, Varanasi and other parts of Uttar Pradesh with the national capital. Several return services from Delhi have also been cancelled.Northern Railway confirmed the cancellation of Lucknow Mail (12229) and Lucknow-New Delhi AC Superfast Express (12429), both scheduled to depart Lucknow on Friday.North Central Railway announced the cancellation of Prayagraj Express (12417), Prayagraj-New Delhi Humsafar Express (12275), Kanpur Central-New Delhi Shram Shakti Express (12451) and Manikpur-Hazrat Nizamuddin UP Sampark Kranti Express (12447), all scheduled to depart on Friday.The Kanpur Central-New Delhi Shatabdi Express (12033) and Agra Cantt-New Delhi Intercity Express (14211), scheduled for Saturday, have also been cancelled.Northeastern Railway confirmed the cancellation of Shiv Ganga Express (12559) and Banaras-New Delhi Superfast Express (12581), both originating from Banaras on Friday. Their corresponding return services, New Delhi-Banaras Express (12560) and New Delhi-Banaras Express (12582), scheduled for Saturday, have also been cancelled.In addition, the railway announced the cancellation of Kasganj-New Delhi Express (15303) and both services of the Lucknow-New Delhi Tejas Express, train numbers 82501 and 82502, scheduled to operate on Saturday. The cancellation of Tejas, a premium train connecting the state capital with New Delhi, is expected to affect passengers travelling to and from Lucknow over the weekend.The Moradabad division also cancelled the Dehradun-New Delhi Jan Shatabdi Express (12056), scheduled for Saturday.Besides long-distance trains, several passenger services have been affected. North Central Railway cancelled Aligarh-Delhi MEMU (64151), Dankaur-Delhi EMU (64107) and Khurja-Ghaziabad EMU (64113) for Friday.For Saturday, the cancelled services include Aligarh-Delhi EMU (64101 and 64103), Khurja-Shakur Basti EMU (64111), Hathras Qila-Delhi MEMU (64581), Tundla-Delhi MEMU (64583), Aligarh-New Delhi EMU (64105) and Dankaur-Shakur Basti EMU (64109).Moradabad division separately announced the cancellation of additional passenger services, including Moradabad-Delhi (54307), Bareilly-Delhi (54075), Delhi-Bareilly (54076) and service number 64567 between Bulandshahr and Tilak Bridge, on their respective notified dates.Meanwhile, North Central Railway announced the operation of a special unreserved train between Mathura Junction and Virangana Lakshmibai Jhansi Junction on Saturday to accommodate additional passengers during the proposed non-interlocking work at Mathura Junction and Bateshwar Yard.
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Train number 01901 will depart Mathura Junction at 4pm and reach Jhansi at 9pm, with stoppages at Agra Cantt, Dholpur, Morena, Gwalior, Dabra and Datia. The special train will operate for one trip only.The widespread cancellations come ahead of planned demonstrations in central Delhi demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Oct 10.While the Railway Board’s initial directive anticipated severe road congestion without specifying its cause, subsequent cancellation notices issued by the Moradabad railway division explicitly referred to the proposed protests in central Delhi and the accompanying traffic advisory.
