Indigo crisis: Special trains from Vizag to Bengaluru to ease travel rush

Visakhapatnam, Dec 6 (PTI) The Waltair Division of the East Coast Railway Zone here is running special trains to ease the travel rush to help people facing travel disruptions due to the mass flight cancellations by IndiGo.

Among the six special trains being operated by ECoR, one will depart from Waltair Division headquarters in Visakhapatnam on December 8 for SMVT Bengaluru, with the return service scheduled to arrive in the port city on December 9.

"Because of the flight cancellations, many people are stranded. Demand for train tickets has risen sharply. Taking this into account, we have introduced special trains to cater to the extra passengers created by this situation," ECoR official Deepak Rout told PTI.

Rout said the railway zone is closely monitoring passenger demand to add extra coaches to regular trains, and that additional special trains will be operated in coordination with other railway zones if required.

He added that the disruption is expected to continue for 10 to 15 days, and the railway zone is assessing demand daily to make necessary arrangements.

For at least five days in a row, IndiGo flight operations have been significantly disrupted, with a large number of cancellations and delays causing hardships to thousands of passengers. In many cases, baggage has been misplaced.

IndiGo has also been instructed to set up dedicated passenger support and refund facilitation cells.

The civil aviation ministry said the airline should ensure that baggage separated from passengers due to flight cancellations or delays should be traced and delivered to them within the next 48 hours.

The refund process for all cancelled or disrupted flights must be completed by 8 pm on Sunday, the ministry said in a statement. PTI STH SSK