Indian railways is running trains for passengers hit by IndiGo crisis. But they are going empty

On Monday afternoon, Gurmeet Singh and his daughter anxiously waited outside Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, hoping to take an IndiGo flight to Amritsar.

“We have no information from the airlines about whether the flight will take off at 7.20 pm,” Singh said. “There is no alternative to fall back on.”

About 400 metres away, tucked away at the far end of the departure terminal, an official of the Indian railways sat waiting at a help desk.

On December 6, four days after disruption of IndiGo flights left passengers stranded across the country, the Indian railways announced 89 special trains between several Indian cities. It also set up kiosks at airports to help passengers book tickets.

But Singh was unaware that the railways could be the alternative he was looking for. “The government should have publicised this,” he said.

Nor did other passengers Scroll spoke to at the airport know that booking a special train was an option.

The railway official at the help desk told Scroll on Monday that only two tickets had been booked through the day for passengers whose flights were cancelled by IndiGo airlines. “We sit here the entire day but only a few people visit,” he said.

A security guard said passengers were unlikely to find the railway kiosk as...

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