Train traffic remains disrupted due to floods in Telugu states

Hyderabad, Sep 3 (IANS) Movement of trains remained disrupted for the third day on Tuesday due to heavy rain and floods in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

With the railway track damaged in Telangana's Mahabubabad district yet to be restored, the South Central Railway (SCR) cancelled several trains on Tuesday.

The damage to the track brought to a halt the train traffic on Kazipet-Vijayawada trunk route.

According to SCR officials, 432 trains have so far been cancelled because of heavy rain. Another 139 trains were diverted due to damaged track.

Almost all the trains which run between Delhi and Chennai, Secunderabad and Chennai and Secunderabad and Visakhapatnam and Secunderabad and Howrah were affected.

The SCR on Tuesday announced the cancellation of 48 trains. Another 24 trains were diverted. The cancelled trains include Visakhapatnam-Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam-Secunderabad, Nanded-Sambalpur, Secunderabad-Munuguru, Bhadrachalam Road-Secunderabad, Kakinada Port-Tirupati, CSMT Mumbai-Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad-Visakhapatnam, Secunderabad-Guntur, Sainagar Shirdi-Kakinada Port, Vijayawada-Secunderabad, Danapur-SMVT Bengaluru andMGR Chennai Central-New Delhi.

Trains like Howrah-SMVT Bengaluru, Howrah-Puducherry, Howrah-Chennai Central, Shalimar-Trivandrum, Hatia-SMVT Bengaluru, Chennai Central-Shalimar, Ernakulam-Hatia, New Delhi-Visakhapatnam, New Delhi-Trivandrum were also cancelled.

Meanwhile, the work to repair the damaged track on the Intakanne–Kesamudram section in Mahabubabad district of Telangana was in full swing. The track was damaged heavily, leading to breaches at six locations.

SCR General Manager Arun Kumar Jain said round-the-clock repairs were on to restore normalcy of train operations. He visited the site to supervise the restoration work.

SCR officials said following the cancellation of trains, about 10,000 stranded passengers were moved to their respective destinations on 158 buses and five special trains.

Secunderabad-Visakhapatnam Godavari Express, Hyderabad-Tambaram Chennai Express and New Delhi-Chennai Tamil Nadu Express were stranded between Kondapalli and Rayanpadu stations on the midnight of September 1.

Railway officials deployed earthmovers and tractors to rescue the passengers caught in floodwaters. About 84 RTC buses were pressed into service to shift 4,200 passengers to Vijayawada railway station. Three special trains were operated. While two special trains were operated to Chennai, one was operated to Visakhapatnam.