Railway passengers stranded at Bhubaneswar station
Cyclone Phailin hit Odisha and Andhra Pradesh coasts this evening around 8.20 pm, severely affecting air and rail traffic. The cyclonic storm made landfall near Gopalpur in Odisha, the epicentre of the storm.
At least 10 flights of Air India, Indigo and Jet Airways scheduled to arrive or take off from the Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar remained cancelled.
The Railways have cancelled all trains between Howrah and Visakhapatnam as a precautionary measure. (
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"As per the precautionary measures 56 trains have been cancelled, 16 diverted and 4-5 trains partially terminated," said Railway spokesperson Anil Saxena.
While it had announced to cancel some passenger trains yesterday, the Railways decided to suspend movement of all trains today in view of the cyclone.
"This cyclone is likely to hit our three railway zones. We have activated our emergency control. Our general managers and railway board are continuously monitoring the situation," said Mr Saxena.
The trains which have been cancelled include Bhubaneswar-Visakhapatnam Intercity Express, Bhubaneswar-Tirupathy S/F Express, Bhubaneswar-Secunderabad Visakha Express, Guntur-Visakhapatnam-Guntur Simhadri Express, Howrah-Bhubaneswar Janshatabdi Express, Howrah-Puri Shatabdi Express and Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express.
Yesvantpur-Bhubaneswar Prasanti Express and Secunderabad-Bhubaneswar Visakha Express have been short terminated at Vishakapatnam.
The railway administration has also decided to divert the routes of several other trains running between Howrah and Chennai.
Two trains which have been diverted via Vizianagaram and Jharsuguda are Tiruchirapalli-Howrah and Chennai-Howrah Mail.
The trains diverted via Chakradharpur and Bilaspur are Howrah-Chennai Falaknuma Express, Howrah-Yashvantpur Duronto Express, Haldia-Chennai S/F Express, Howrah-Hyderabad East Coast Express.
Guwahati-Trivandrum Express has been diverted via Vizianagaram and Jharsuguda, they said.