A Darjeeling Mail passenger in Calcutta. (Aranya Sen)

March 11: Darjeeling Mail had to overcome a train of troubles — two engine failures and cracks on tracks — to reach Calcutta today, clocking a delay of over 11 hours.

Many like Mumbai engi-neer Nikesh Mhatre and his wife Kavita missed their flights out of the city.

The train left New Jalpaiguri at 8.15 last night — 15 minutes behind schedule — and encountered engine trouble only 15km away.

An engine used to haul goods trains came an hour later to pull the mail along. At Aluabari — 55km away — the train was stopped as cracks were detected on the tracks in North Dinajpur.

The repair took four-and-a-half hours and the journey resumed at 5.30am. At Barsoi, the mail was connected to a passenger train engine at 6.30. But the passengers’ ordeal didn’t end there. The new engine, too, broke down.

When the train reached Malda at 9am, some of the passengers stormed the station manager’s office.

A VIP among them, Congress MLA Deepa Das Munshi, left the train at Malda, took a car to Bagdogra, 200km away, and flew to Calcutta.

Others like A.B. Mukher-jee, a former judge coming to Calcutta for his wife’s treatment, did not have the option. “The harassment we suffered was great. There was no food or water on the train.”

The railways promised an inquiry. A spokersperson for the Northeast Frontier Railway said crack could have been “caused by weather changes in the Himalayan foothills”. He had no explanation for the engine failures.

The train scheduled to reach Sealdah at 6am finally made it at 5.05pm.

Kalimpong businessman Tara Sundas accused the railways of being callous. “No one told us why the train was running late and when we could expect to reach Calcutta.”