Cyclone Dana: Ahead of the landfall of Cyclone Dana, the Indian Railways said it has cancelled more than 150 express trains for the safety of the passengers. These trains were running through South Eastern Railway jurisdiction.
List of cancelled trains
The trains that have been cancelled include Howrah-Secunderabad Falaknuma Express, Kamakhya-Yesvantpur AC Express, Howrah-Puri Shatabdi Express, Howrah-Bhubaneswar Shatabdi Express and Howrah-Yesvantpur Express, he said.
The trains cancelled were scheduled to depart their originating stations from October 23 to 25, the SER official said. More trains running through the SER zone may be cancelled if the situation demands.
The Kolkata-headquartered SER zone is spread over the states of West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand.
Eastern Railway to set up control room
The Eastern Railway will operate an emergency control room from October 24 to 25, an ER official said. According to the Met office, a depression over the east-central Bay of Bengal is likely to intensify into a severe cyclonic storm and cross Odisha-West Bengal coasts between Puri and Sagar Island in the early hours of October 25 with a wind speed of 100-110 kmph gusting to 120 kmph.
In the meantime, authorities of the Kolkata airport have started preparations to tackle any situation arising out of a possible cyclonic storm that could hit coastal areas of West Bengal and Odisha on October 25, a senior official said on Tuesday.
The standard operating procedures such as inspection of the airport infrastructure and the drainage system, checking and servicing of all installations are being carried out, he said.
A meeting with various stakeholders was held in the evening to discuss issues related to the developing weather system, Director of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, Dr Pravat Ranjan Beuria, told PTI.
