Bhubaneswar: Rail services in Western Odisha were affected Thursday owing to the 48-hour bandh call by the members of Sambalpur Bar Association demanding permanent Bench of Orissa High Court in the region.
As part of the ‘Maha Bandh’, the agitators staged ‘rail roko’ at several railway stations, leading to cancellation, delay and diversion of many trains.
According to East Coast Railway (ECoR) sources, the Sambalpur-Rayagada-Sambalpur Express, Sambalpur-Puri Sambalpur Inter City Express and Bhubaneswar-Bolangir-Bhubaneswar Inter City Express have been cancelled from both the directions. However, Sambalpur-Jharsuguda Passenger, Sambalpur-Koraput/Junagarh Road Passenger, Titlagarh-Sambalpur Passenger, Sambalpur-Jammu Tawi Express and Rourkela-Sambalpur Passenger, Bilaspur-Titlagarh Passenger via Sambalpur were partially cancelled.
The ECoR sources also said Titlagarh-Howrah Ispat Express from Titlagarh was running up to Bargarh Road and Jagadalpur-Howrah Samaleswari Express from Jagadalpur was running up to Titlagarh Thursday.
Howrah-Jagadalpur Hirakhand Express from Howrah ran up to Jharsuguda and returned to Howrah as Jagadalpur-Howrah Samaleswari Express from Jharsuguda. Howrah-Jagadalpur-Howrah Samaleswari Express will remain cancelled between Jharsuguda and Titlagarh from both the directions.
Likewise, Rourkela-Bhubaneswar Inter City Express from Rourkela ran up to Jharsuguda. This train will remain cancelled between Jharsuguda and Bhubaneswar from both the directions.
The Puri-Rourkela Passenger from Puri ran up to Angul and returned to Puri. Services of Rourkela-Puri Passenger will remain cancelled between Rourkela and Angul from both directions.
Moreover, Yesvantpur-Hatia Express ran on diverted route from Yesvantpur via Titlagarh-Raipur-Bilaspur and Jharsuguda instead of its scheduled route while Bhubaneswar-LTT Express ran on diverted route via Vizianagaram and Rayagada Thursday. The Ajmer-Puri Express from Ajmer ran on diverted route via Titlagarh & Vizianagaram.