The South Western Railways (SWR) continued to be caught off guard by the sheer number of people travelling towards Guwhati. Despite not knowing whether there would be special trains or not, thousands thronged to the Bangalore City railway station on Thursday morning itself. According to those leaving the city, they felt safer in the railway station than in their rented accommodations in the city.
Although thousands were at the station early in the afternoon, the numbers continued to swell, forcing railway authorities who were planning only one special train apart from the regular
Guwahati-bound train at 11.30pm, to rethink. However, as the numbers continued to rise, the railways added two specials apart from the regular train, which were to leave at 8 am and 10pm.
Although most of those bound for Guwahati tried their best to board the first train itself which left much ahead of schedule, it did not make much difference since the number of passengers at the station kept increasing.
The second special train, which was scheduled to leave at 10pm, was forced to depart by 9.15 pm in order to clear the rush. Finally, a third special train too had to be scheduled for 1am on Friday.
