Bhubaneswar: The East Coast Railway (ECoR) decided Monday to suspend running of all special trains on the Bhubaneswar-Kharagpur route in view of the approaching cyclone ‘Amphan’. The railway line will be out of bounds for trains till further orders, the ECoR said Monday.
In view of the cyclone forecast, the railway zone has decided to divert the Bhubaneswar-New Delhi-Bhubaneswar AC Special Train via Angul-Jharsuguda-Rourkela-Tata route bypassing the Bhubaneswar-Hijli (Kharagpur) route for four days.
The cyclone ‘Amphan’ intensified into a super cyclonic storm Monday and is likely to move across the northeast Bay of Bengal and cross the coasts of West Bengal and Bangladesh between Digha and the Hatia island on May 20, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
Shramik special trains have been suspended and will not be allowed to run on the Bhadrak-Kharagpur route, the ECoR said. Parcel and freight trains may be diverted via the Sambalpur-Jharsuguda route, it added.
All passenger trains were already suspended in view of the COVID-19 lockdown and only some Shramik Special Trains, one AC Special Train, freight and Parcel Express were running as per guidelines of the Ministry of Home Affairs, an ECoR statement said.
Meanwhile, the ECoR is gearing up to meet the challenges from cyclone ‘Amphan’.
Taking advantage of meteorological forecasts and also the experiences of devastation to railway property in last year’s cyclone Fani, cyclone Titli in 2018, Hudhud in 2014, Phailin in 2013 and the Super Cyclone of 1999, the ECoR has planned early restoration of train traffic and railway tracks if affected by ‘Amphan’.
A round-the-clock Disaster Management Cell has been opened at ECoR Headquarters at Rail Sadan here and at Divisional Headquarters at Visakhapatnam, Khurda Road and Sambalpur, the ECoR statement said.
The Railway zone has also taken steps for ‘no risk to train traffic’ by positioning special teams for early restoration of tracks, signaling system and electrification safety of train operations in order to run trains after the cyclone even if there is no electricity supply, it said.
PNN & Agencies
