16548) was detained owing to a locomotive failure near Ibrahimpur on Saturday evening. Vijayapura : Police recruitment aspirants travelling from Vijayapura to Tumakuru and Bengaluru staged a protest on the railway tracks after the Vijayapura-Yesvantpur Express (No.
The train was scheduled to depart Vijayapura at 1.50pm but left at 2.35pm, according to South Western Railway (SWR) sources. Around 1,000 candidates were travelling on the train. Despite the disruption, SWR operated the train on priority and ensured that passengers reached Yesvantpur at 7.10am on Sunday, against its scheduled arrival time of 5am.
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An SWR official said the delay was caused by the time taken to bring a replacement locomotive from Bagalkot. However, the locomotive developed a technical snag near Ibrahimpur, resulting in a prolonged halt. Alleging that the train remained stranded for nearly two hours, some passengers blocked the Basava Express arriving from the Bagalkot side and raised slogans against SWR officials. Railway authorities later arranged an alternative locomotive from Bagalkot, after which the train resumed its journey with an overall delay of about four hours. The aspirants warned that SWR should take responsibility if the delay affected their examinations. The official added that the candidates were able to attend their examinations without any difficulty. Download the TOI App.