Railway services hit in east India, NE region due to rains

Guwahati/Kolkata, Aug 13 (IANS) Heavy rainfall over the last 48 hours in West Bengal, Bihar, Assam and other northeastern states has severely hampered railway operations due to waterlogging of tracks in several places of Katihar and Alipurduar Divisions of Northeast Frontier (NF) Railway, officials said on Sunday.

An NF Railway release said the situation aggravated on Saturday night when rain water submerged tracks near Dalkhola, Barsoi, Sudhani stations and the main line connecting the northeast with the rest of the country, got blocked with water under a bridge near Kishanganj station flowing over the danger level.

As a result, a number of trains had to be halted at various stations or cancelled or rescheduled/short-terminated.

Some trains were brought back to originating stations or other convenient stations after attending to watering and taking other measures.

Monday's 15903 Dibrugarh-Chandigarh Express and 15636 Guwahati-Okha Express have been cancelled, the release said.

Twenty mail, express and other passenger trains, including 12423 Dibrugarh-New Delhi Rajdhani Express, 15930 Dibrugarh-Chennai Express, 14055 Dibrugarh-Delhi Brahmaputra Mail, 15640 Guwahati-Puri Express were cancelled on Sunday.

Among other cancelled trains were 15658 Guwahati-Sealdah Kanchanjungha Express, 12344 New Jalpaiguri Sealdah Darjeeling Mail, A15483 Alipurduar Jn-Delhi Sikkim Mahananda Express, 13148 New Coochbehar-Sealdah Uttar Banga Express, 12346 Guwahati-Howrah Saraighat Express, 13150 Alipurduar Jn-Sealdah Kanchan Kanya Express and 13142 New Alipurduar-Sealdah Teesta Torsa Express.

Among up trains, 13141 Sealdah-New Alipurduar Teesta Torsa Express was short terminated at New Jalpaiguri, 15959 Howrah-Dibrugarh Kamrup Express and, and 15934 Chandigarh-Dibrugarh Express, both were regulated at Dalkhola from 11.50 a.m.

Ten down trains were also short terminated. They included 14055 Dibrugarh -A Delhi Brahmaputra Mail (controlled at New Jalpaiguri from 11.25 a.m. and was now being taken back to Dibrugarh), 22512 Kamakhya-LTT Super Fast Express (controlled at New Jalpaiguri from 11.45 a.m. and was now being taken back to Kamakhya).

While many rivers in Alipurduar and Katihar Divisions continued to be in spate, NF Railway authorities claimed they were keeping a close watch and continuously monitoring the situation.