Bengaluru: Rail and flight services to Odisha have been disrupted for the next few days after Cyclone Fani made its landfall on the east coast.
There have been reports of landslides in many places, said a railway official. Flight services to Bhubaneshwar and Kolkata too have affected due to the high speed winds and poor visibility.
Over 220 trains on the Kolkata-Chennai route have been cancelled until Saturday. This includes the more than 40 trains between Howrah and Puri and other stations in south India (Bengaluru) over the next two days.
As many as eight arrivals and nine departures to and from Kolkata have been cancelled owing to the cyclones.
A railway official told Deccan Chronicle, "Keeping in mind the safety of train passengers we had earlier cancelled almost all trains from May 1-3. It has further been decided to cancel 40 more trains from other parts. We will wait for instruction from the higher ups for further action."
South Western Railway authorities said 11 trains passing through Odisha on Thursday and Friday were cancelled. Train no. 15227 Yeshwantpur-Muzaffarpur Express scheduled to leave from Yeswantpur at 11:55 pm was cancelled. However, since the SWR announced the cancellation only by evening, it caused hardship to passengers.
Train Nos. 12863 Howrah-Yeshwantpur Express, 12246 Yeshwantpur-Howrah Express, 22888 Yeshwantpur-Howrah Express, 18464 KSR Bengaluru-Bhubaneswar Express and 12864 Yeshwantpur-Howrah Express scheduled for Thursday have also been cancelled.
A railway source said that similarly, train no. 12509 Bengaluru Cantonment-Guwahati on Thursday was diverted to via Vizianagram, Titlagarh and Jharsuguda. On Friday, train nos.18463 Bhubaneswar-KSR Bengaluru Express, 12245 Howrah-Yeshwantpur Express, 22817 Howrah-Mysuru and 22883 Puri-Yeshwantpur Express was also cancelled.
Tanzim Khan, who hails from Odisha, told Deccan Chronicle, “it's very unfortunate that the most severe cyclonic storm has hit our region. We had plans to travel to Odisha, but now we can’t as every train has been cancelled. But we are in continuous touch with our relatives about their safety.”
