Streets empty out as trains burst at seams

HYDERABAD: Thanks to Sankranti festival, half of Hyderabad seems to have emptied out. While trains going out of the city had a bone-crushing number of passengers, the roads in the city bore the marks of a holiday. Those left behind enjoyed traffic snarl-free movement and laidback rides. With a huge number of Hyderabadis going to their homes in the districts to enjoy the holiday, the Secunderabad railway station was teeming with hurrying passengers. Though the South Central Railway (SCR) operated 22 special services in addition to adding 38 more bogies to regular trains on the second day, it proved inadequate. Many were left behind by the pushing, pulling passengers and those who managed to wriggle inside the trains were packed like sardines. The brunt of the rush was felt by the elderly and children with more than 400 passengers travelling in a general bogie, which accommodates less than 200 on normal days.A passenger S Lakshmi told Express that she had brought her two children to the station to go home for the holiday but missed the Visakha Express as others muscled her out. "I do not know wether I can celebrate the festival with my parents this year," said Lakshmi as she waited for another train to come. This was the general fate of both reserved and unreserved passengers in the day.