Six trains cancelled, many rescheduled by ECoR

With cyclone Titli damaging railway structures at many places, East Coast Railway (ECoR) Thursday cancelled at least six trains and rescheduled some others besides gearing up to restore normal services.

After making landfall near Palasa in Andhra Pradesh, very severe cyclone Titli caused extensive damage to station buildings, platform shelters and foot overbridge at various places, an ECoR spokesman said.

He said signalling poles and over-head electric masts have been damaged at several places between Palasa and Kottabomali stations. Electricity feed to over-head masts was also affected between Berhampur and Kottabomali.

A number of incidents of uprooted trees and branches falling on tracks have been reported from various places, blocking rail lines.

Railway teams, including track specialists, bridge engineers and over-head electricity engineers have rushed to spots for a detailed study of the impact of cyclone Titli between Brahmapur-Palasa and Palasa-Kottabomali.

In view of extensive damage to railway properties, ECoR cancelled at least six trains including 22819/22820 Bhubaneswar-Visakhapatnam-Bhubaneswar Inter City Express from both the directions on Thursday.

Similarly, 22874 Visakhapatnam-Digha Express from Visakhapatnam and 18645 Howrah-Hyderabad East Coast Express from Howrah were cancelled on Thursday, ECoR official said.

Train services will be reviewed again and decision will be taken according to the circumstances, railway sources said.