Train pain eases but bus and airfares stay higher than usual
Times of India | 6 September 2026
Kolkata: Train services between Kolkata and North Bengal were restored by Saturday evening after nearly 48 hours of round-the-clock work by around 400 railway officials and workers to repair tracks affected by land subsidence near New Farakka. The restoration brought relief to thousands stranded or facing steep air and bus fares over the Janmashtami weekend.
An empty goods train successfully completed a trial run at 6.58 pm on Saturday, following which normal train operations resumed on the affected stretch. Eastern Railway said all North Bengal-bound trains departing from Howrah, Sealdah and Kolkata would now operate on their normal routes and schedules.
“Due to the land subsidence near New Farakka, services were disrupted over the past two days. Today, our engineering work has been completed. The track is now fully fit. Following that, we resumed normal operations by 7 pm on Saturday. All North Bengal-bound trains departing Kolkata, Howrah or Sealdah will run via their normal routes as per standard schedules. Similarly, down trains scheduled to arrive will also follow the same route,” said Eastern Railway CPRO Shibram Maji.
On Saturday, while some morning trains remained cancelled and a few services, including the Howrah-NJP Vande Bharat and Howrah-NJP Shatabdi Express, operated on diverted routes, several evening trains left Kolkata on schedule after the restoration. These included Darjeeling Mail, Padatik Express and Kanchankanya Express.
The disruption had caused considerable inconvenience to passengers travelling between Kolkata and N Bengal, particularly during the long Janmashtami weekend. With several trains cancelled since Thursday night, demand for alternative modes of transport surged, pushing up air and bus fares.
Airfares remained elevated on Saturday, with one-way tickets to Bagdogra for Saturday and Sunday hovering around Rs 14,000-Rs 15,000. However, following the evening restoration of train services, fares for Monday began dropping towards normal levels, indicating an easing of the pressure on alternative transport.
The bus fares, though less compared to Friday or Thursday, were still higher than normal. At the counter of a long-distance operator at Esplanade bus terminus, passengers were asked for Rs 2,000 for a bus headed to Siliguri that departed Esplanade at 8.30 pm.
The fare for the same operator on Sept 12, coming Saturday, was Rs 1,100.
The North Bengal State Transport Corporation (NBSTC) ran 10 extra buses on the Kolkata-Siliguri route on all days since Thursday, with the surge in demand for bus tickets. “We run 12 buses daily. For these three days, we ran 10 extra buses,” said Sajal Kanungo, NBSTC’s officer-in-charge at the Esplanade bus terminus. The fare of a non-AC bus was Rs 485 while that of an AC sleeper was Rs 1,700.