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Grids' collapse disrupts rail services again

TNN | Aug 1, 2012, 01.48AM IST

LUCKNOW: Several trains came to a grinding halt following the collapse of three grids on Tuesday. More than 40 trains were held up in Northern Railway (NR), while movement of 32 trains was hit in North Central Railway (NCR). Fiver trains were running late in the North Eastern Railway while 10 trains were stranded between Gaya and Mughalsarai in the East Central Railway (ECR). The railway services on the affected electrified routes were restored by 4:30pm in Lucknow and Allahabad divisions, under emergency services.

On the Lucknow-Kanpur route, which is the only electrified stretch of NR's Lucknow division, Neelanchal Express, Okha-Guwahati Express and three Lucknow-Kanpur MEMU trains were held up. Lucknow-New Delhi Shatabdi Express was made to run on a diesel engine. "We did not want to delay the train," said a station official. The other trains were also made to operate on diesel engines like Neelanchal Express which was stranded near Kanpur.

"The trains which were stranded near major stations were brought to Allahabad using diesel engines but the ones stranded at minor stations had to wait," said NCR chief public relation officer Sandip Mathur. The trains like Moori Express, Kalka Mail and Jodhpur-Howrah Express too were stranded. NCR set up several helplines at Allahabad, Aligarh, Mirzapur and Kanpur for the kin of passengers stranded at odd stations. "We also ensured the presence of vendors at the smaller stations so that passengers can buy drinks and food," said Mathur. The entire stretch from Mughalsarai to Ghaziabad in NCR was hit by the grids' collapse.

The movement of electric trains too was completely disrupted in the Mughalsarai division of ECR. "As many as eight trains are standing at various places between Mughalsarai and Gaya while two trains are standing at Mughalsarai station," said ADRM Mughalsarai Ramesh Chandra. The goods trains were also waiting in the yard for the restoration of power supply.

Since the North Eastern Railway (NER) does not have electrified routes, it had the minimum impact. The division had five trains, including Jaipur-Kamakhya Express and Kanpur-Chhapra Express, running late. "These were the trains we got from adjacent stations," said NER chief public relation officer Amit Singh. Though the routes had been restored, trains were still running late.

The train operations were gradually getting restored. "The signalling system was restored quickly and then the trains were made to run," said Ashwini Srivastava, Sr, DCM, Lucknow, NR. The station officials, however, denied that there were any cancellations due to delayed train traffic.