WR to pay compensation to 630 passengers for Tejas Express delay

Tejas Express. Representational Pic

In a first on Western Railway, 630 passengers on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai Tejas Express were given compensation after the train was delayed for about an hour-and-twenty-four minutes following an overhead wire issue near Mira Road.

The Tejas train was also given a two-minute unscheduled halt at Andheri station after a demand by four passengers who said they had to catch flights at the airport.

A Western Railway spokesperson said due to some technical problem, the overhead wire on the Churchgate-bound fast line between Dahisar and Bhayandar did not hold power from 12.15 pm.

"It was restored between Dahisar-Mira Road at 12.30 pm and between Mira Road and Bhayandar at 1.35pm. During this period, the traffic on the other three lines was on. Four long-distance trains coming towards Mumbai were delayed while eight suburban services were cancelled due to it," WR spokesperson Ravinder Bhakar said.

IRCTC officials said they had announced earlier that passengers would be compensated if there was any delay in the train. As a special feature, a compensation of R100 had been promised in case the train was delayed during its run for over an hour and R250 in case of delay of more than two hours to every passenger.

"As per the announcement, we will pay compensation. The train occupancy was 879 passengers and of these, 630 passengers were identified to be de-boarding at Mumbai Central and all of them will be given compensation via NEFT," the IRCTC official said.

The Ahmedabad-Mumbai Tejas Express had completed its inaugural run on January 17 in six hours.

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates