Poor sanitation: Angry passengers hold up train for an hour; get toilets, coaches cleaned

Around 100 passengers held up the Mumbai-Katra Swaraj Superfast Express at the Ambala Cantt railway station for nearly an hour as they were angry over unclean coaches and dirty toilets in the train.

Most of the protesting passengers were travelling in AC coaches.

They forced the train to halt at the platform for one hour, according to officials.

Someone pulled the emergency chain of the train when it began leaving the station. The passengers then gathered at the platform and raised slogans against Railway authorities and threatened they would not allow the train to move till the coaches were cleaned.

They claimed the toilets of some compartments were dirty and not working properly, while some of coaches had not been cleaned properly.

Passengers alleged they had complained to the ticket checker who did not help.

Station Director B S Gill and railway police rushed to the spot and tried to persuade the irate passengers who remained steadfast on their demand.

The officials then summoned a sanitation department team and all coaches, including toilets, were cleaned properly.

Some of the passengers told reporters they would bring the matter to the notice of the Railway Minister.

Over a week ago, Congress' Amritsar MP G S Aujla had claimed that he had to pull the emergency chain of a train to get tanks filled after passengers complained they were unable to use toilets due to lack of water.

Aujla, along with some senior Railways officials, had conducted a surprise inspection of a number of trains, including the Shatabdi Express, at the railway station at Amritsar, Punjab.

He had claimed he had to pull the emergency chain of the Tata Muri Express to get its water tanks filled.