Kamal Ghorui
BHUBANESWAR: Not smoke. Not mirrors. Just steel that wasn’t there. Three decades after magician PC Sorcar Jr stunned a live crowd by making a passenger train “vanish” at Bardhaman in Bengal, rail travellers in western Odisha faced a far less theatrical disappearance — a reserved coach that never showed up.Passengers holding confirmed tickets for a 3AC coach on Sambalpur–Nanded Nagavali Superfast Exp discovered Sunday morning that their coach was missing when train 20809 rolled into Sambalpur, 320km west of Bhubaneswar.Sorcar’s act relied on lighting, timing and crowd control. This one needed none of that — just confirmed tickets, an absent coach and a reminder that on Indian Railways, reality can outdo illusion.The train departed Sambalpur without coach BE2. Confusion followed on the platform. Ticket examiners fielded protests as travellers were unsure whether to board. Others climbed into any coach they could find. Over 30 passengers with confirmed berths scattered across the train.East Coast Railway blamed a technical snag that prevented attachment of the coach. The issue was resolved when train reached Visakhapatnam Jn, where an AC coach was added.
