Hyderabad: South Central Railway has cancelled 11 trains in view of a ‘very severe’ cyclone ‘Arnab’ in the Bay of Bengal, which is likely to cross the Andhra Pradesh coast on Wednesday.
South Central Railway (SCR) said in a release on Tuesday that it has cancelled the trains in the interest of passenger safety.
Ten trains, whose journey was scheduled to commence on Tuesday (October 27), have been cancelled. Another train scheduled to depart on October 28 has also been cancelled.
The cancelled trains include Secunderabad-Howrah Falaknuma Superfast Express, Secunderabad-Bhubaneswar New Visakha Express, Hyderabad-Visakhapatnam Goadavari Superfast Express, Mahabubnagar-Visakhapatnam Superfast Express, Secunderabad-Visakhapatnam Garibrath Superfast Express, Lingampalli-Kakinada Town Cocanada Superfast Express, Lingampally-Narsapur Express, Lingampalli-Kakinada Port Gowthami Superfast Express, Hazur Sahib Nanded-Sambalpur Nagavalli Superfast Express, Charlapalli-Srikakulam Road Special and Srikakulam Road-Charlapalli Special.
Nagrasol-Narsapur has been partially cancelled between Charlapalli and Narsapur. Howrah-Secunderabad Falaknuma Express, leaving Howrah on October 29, also stands cancelled.
South Coast Railway has already announced the cancellation of 61 trains.
South Central Railway said that due to the intensification of cyclone, which is likely to affect several places in the states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and other areas, there will be a change in the pattern of train services in the region as per the need of the situation in the interest of safety of passengers and train operations.
The cyclone ‘Arnab ‘is likely to cross the Andhra Pradesh coast between Bapatla and Visakhapatnam (near Yanam) on the forenoon of October 28 as a very severe cyclonic storm.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a red alert for Khammam, Bhadradri Kothagudem, Mulugu and Mahabubabad on October 28. Heavy rain is also expected over Warangal, Hanumakonda, Suryapet and Nalgonda on October 28 and 29. In view of this, several trains passing in this direction/sections are expected to be cancelled/diverted.
Sanjay Kumar Srivastava, General Manager, South Central Railway, reviewed the safety measures and preparedness with Dr R. Gopalakrishnan, Divisional Railway Manager, Secunderabad Division and other concerned officials. He reviewed the identified vulnerable sections and bridges across the division and took stock of the patrolling arrangements and deployment of patrolmen and watchmen at these locations, and also reviewed the status of tank water levels.
Srivastava also reviewed the readiness and positioning of boulder, sandbag and ballast rakes, along with Accident Relief Trains (ARTs) and Accident Relief Medical Equipment (ARMEs) at Kazipet and Dornakal.
The General Manager has instructed the heads of all departments to be on high alert to ensure the safety of passengers, staff and railway assets. Officers and senior supervisors at both divisional level and headquarters level are closely monitoring train operations, bridge conditions and water levels at vulnerable locations.
Passengers have been requested to plan their rail journeys keeping in view the current climatic conditions, such as heavy rains and cyclonic situations. A change in the pattern of train services, like cancellation, diversion, rescheduling, etc., will be conveyed to passengers via SMS on their mobile numbers submitted at the time of booking reserved tickets.
(IANS)
