Gulab puts brakes on train services in state

BHUBANESWAR: The Railways on Monday cancelled several trains as tracks remained inundated at several places in Andhra Pradesh following heavy rain in the wake of Cyclone Gulab.
The East Coast Railway (ECoR) cancelled eight trains, including the Visakhapatnam-Rayagada Special, Rourkela-Jagadalpur Special, Rayagada-Visakhapatnam Special and the Jagadalpur-Rourkela Special, in the Visakhapatnam-Vizianagaram-Rayagada section under the Waltair division. While some of these trains were cancelled for Monday, the rest for Tuesday.
Besides, some trains from Visakhapatnam may get delayed because of waterlogging at Coaching Depot and some other areas which will impact the train services in Odisha as well. “Some places in Rayagada and Koraput districts are prone to landslides. Hence, the trains were cancelled in these areas,” said a railway officer. Considering the cyclone situation, the railway zone has cancelled 10 more passenger trains for Monday and Tuesday. It had earlier cancelled 34 trains in view of the storm and its aftermath.
Officials said some trains were cancelled because of delays in connecting trains. The Puri-Shalimar-Puri Special (08466/08465) from Puri on Monday and from Shalimar on Tuesday have been cancelled due to late running of connecting trains.
Sources said regular services will resume after water recedes from the tracks in Andhra Pradesh. “The ECoR will take a call on this very soon after assessing the situation. At present, many trains are running via diverted routes,” said an official. The ECoR, so far, has not spoken about damage of any railway property due to the cyclone.
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