A groom was about to miss his own wedding because the train the groom’s party was travelling on was running late. But after the Railway authorities were informed, swift arrangements were made so that the groom and his 34-member baraat could reach his wedding on time. For this, the railways halted a connecting train, sped up the train running late, and made arrangements at Howrah junction for quick transfer to the connecting train.
The groom in this case is Chandrashekhar Wagh of Mumbai, who was travelling with his family and relatives to Guwahati for his wedding. On 15 November, they boarded the Gitanjali Express that runs daily between Mumbai’s CST station and Howrah Junction in West Bengal. The scheduled time of arrival of the train at Howrah is 1:05 PM, and they had planned to board the Saraighat Express from Howrah to Guwahati which starts at 4:05 PM, with a buffer of 3 hours.
However, on Friday Gitanjali Express was running late by 3.5 hours, more than the buffer time. Train tracking website NTES shows that when the train reached Kharagpur, it was late by 3:31 hours, which increased to 3:51 hours by the time the train reached Santragachi Junction. The marriage party included some senior citizens, and it became clear that they wouldn’t be able to make alternate arrangements to travel to Guwahati if they missed the connecting train. Worried that he will miss his own wedding, Chandrashekhar Wagh posted a tweet tagging railway authorities including minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, explaining the situation and seeking help.
@RailMinIndia @AshwiniVaishnaw @nerailwaygkp @EasternRailway Need urgent help, we are group of 35 people, travelling via Gitanjali express for my marriage which is delayed by 3.5 hrs, Need to catch Sarighat express at 4:00 pm which seems difficult. Kindly help. My no. 9029597736 pic.twitter.com/a3ULEXHJfs
— Chandu (@chanduwagh21) November 15, 2024
To the delight of the groom’s party, the Eastern Railway authorities swung into action after receiving the tweet. The Saraighat Express was halted at Howrah Junction for some time till the time Gitanjali Express arrives. The loco pilot of the Gitanjali Express was informed to speed up the train.
Arrangements were made in the route so that the train can move without unscheduled stoppages. Not only that, the authorities at the station also made arrangements to transfer the groom’s party and their luggage from Platform 21 to Platform 9, where Saraighat Express was stationed.
As a result, the train arrived at Howrah junction at 4:08 PM, just minutes after the scheduled departure of Saraighat. As soon as the train arrived, railway staff moved the passengers and their baggage to Saraighat Express within minutes. As per NTES data, the train left Howrah at 4:19 PM, with a delay of only 14 minutes, and reached Guwahati today morning.
After boarding the train to Guwahati, Chandrashekhar Wagh tweeted yesterday evening, “With respect to above tweets I would like to inform that we all were able to catch the Sarighat express, I would like to express my deepest gratitude towards all the involved parties.”
I would like to thank @RailMinIndia @RailwaySeva @nerailwaygkp @drmhowrah @AshwiniVaishnaw for making all the necessary arrangements so that I along with my 35 relatives could catch my connecting train. Thank you soo much. Special mention to @srdomkgp @CCMeasternrailway.
— Chandu (@chanduwagh21) November 15, 2024
In another tweet, he thanked the Railway minister and the authorities for making all the necessary arrangements so that he along with my 35 relatives could catch the connecting train.
Official X account of Eastern Railway tweeted about the incident, saying, “IR arranged to detain Saraighat Express at Howrah for a few minutes so that a marriage party with Dulha coming by Geetanjali Express and going to Guwahati can catch the train, 12345 Up from HWH. The marriage party has expressed their thanks to Railways for this helping gesture.”
Eastern Railway also posted a video of Chandrashekhar Wagh, narrating the entire development, and thanking the Railway authorities for making the arrangements so that he does not miss his wedding. He said, “This was not just a service but an act of immense kindness. Without this intervention, my family and I would have missed an irreplaceable moment in our lives. I am deeply grateful to the Indian Railways.”
Talking about the development, Kaushik Mitra, Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) of Eastern Railway, said, “We are always ready to serve our passengers. Today’s effort reflects our commitment to going above and beyond for them. Our best wishes to the groom.”
