Hyderabad: The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission-I, Hyderabad, has held Southern Railway guilty of deficiency in service for failing to inform a passenger about a planned train diversion, resulting in a nearly 16-hour delay and causing him to miss a business meeting and a return flight.The commission partly allowed a complaint filed by T Ramakrishna against the general manager, Southern Railway, Chennai, and the chief commercial manager (passenger marketing), directing them to jointly pay Rs 25,000 compensation and Rs 10,000 towards litigation costs within 45 days.Ramakrishna had booked a reserved ticket on Train No 12621 Tamil Nadu Express from MGR Chennai Central to New Delhi. The ticket showed departure at 10 pm on Sep 28, 2024, and arrival at 6.30 am on Sept 30. However, the train reached New Delhi only at 10.30 pm, running nearly 16 hours late.The commission noted that South Central Railway had issued a diversion notice on Sept 5 due to planned operational works and instructed that passengers be informed. However, Ramakrishna, who boarded at Chennai Central, was not individually alerted and his reservation slip continued to show the original schedule.Rejecting the railways’ argument that alerts were sent only to passengers boarding intermediate stations, the commission said the diversion was a planned exercise and sufficient time was available to notify all passengers.The delay forced Ramakrishna to miss his Hyderabad flight from New Delhi and buy a costlier ticket the next day. The commission held that the failure to communicate the change caused mental agony and inconvenience.