'Rail roko' agitation by farmers' organisations had negligible impact on train operations: Railways

New Delhi [India], February 19 : The nationwide 'Rail Roko' agitation called by some farmers' organisations on Thursday had a minimal or negligible impact on train operations, informed the Ministry of Railways on Friday.
According to an official release, only 30 mail trains were affected out of the total 12,800 trains run by Indian Railways (including goods and passenger trains).
Several other trains were able to make up time, while some of the long-distance trains which were yet to reach destination were expected to make up time further.
Meanwhile, suburban services in Mumbai in Maharashtra were not affected by the 'Rail Roko' agitation. Freight trains and freight revenue were also not affected.
Furthermore, no untoward incident was reported in the farmers' agitation and train movement in all zones was smooth after the protests.
A majority of the zones did not report a single case of any stoppage of trains by the agitators, according to the Railways Ministry.
The ministry further said utmost patience was exercised by all concerned during the agitation.
As reported by some of the Zonal Railways, the 'Rail Roko' agitation was not conducted primarily by the farmers like in West Bengal, the agitation was called by a political party to highlight the local incident of custodial death of a Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) student in Kolkata.
It was also reported by Zonal Railways that at several places leaders and activists of political parties were taking part along with their supporters.
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha had last week announced a nationwide protest to press for its demand to repeal the farm laws. Farmer unions demonstrated 'rail roko' agitation between 12 pm to 4 pm on Thursday in different parts of the country.
After the tractor rally and 'chakka jaam', 'rail roko' has been the major protest by the farmers against the three farm laws.