This is going to shock you, amaze you, surprise you, and may even make you laugh. In India, an incident, never ever heard before has come up, where a train waited couple of hours to start running since its driver had gone for bathing.

Train number 63227 Patna mughalsarai was halting at Buxar railway station on its route. The train had reached the station 5 minutes before its scheduled time. After 10 minutes of mandatory halt, the signal panel controller flagged a green signal, but  the train never got started.

Few passengers and even local railway staff noticed it. And when even after 20 more minutes the train stayed put, an announcement was made on platform, that the driver of the 6327 UP train should start the train.

waiting train
A man showing his frustration even as others wait for train to get started


But the announcement had no effect on the status of the train and it stayed there, not moved even an inch.

This is where Indian railway authorities started to take the matter a bit seriously. After bit of investigation it was found that driver had gone for a bath.

Meanwhile the passengers continued to get frustrated and confused. After all they were waiting for a long long time for train to move. They saw many a passenger trains overtake their train as they left stranded on the station.

When few passengers went to railway enquiry room to know about the reason of delay, they were told that loco pilot has gone for a bath. This was made public by announcing system too. After hearing it, already frustrated passengers, got agitated.

Travelers couldn't believe what  they were hearing. It was more that 1 and half hours since the train was stationed at the same place. Later when people got more agitated, to defuse the situation, railway made more announcements asking people to keep calm.

But all this further worsened the situation. People now wanted a piece of railway's panel controller.

Seeing the situation getting out of control, railway made another announcement - "Controller has gone to take a lunch," another big mistake. People were red hot this time.

Finally though, the guard and train driver MK Singh returned after taking a long bath and food. The train departed 2 hrs 12 minutes late after arriving 5 minutes before scheduled time.

What can you say about this incident?

We can only say "It happens only in India".

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