Heavy Rains Disrupt SCR Operations
Hyderabad: Railway services were thrown asunder because of incessant rains across the Secunderabad, Vijayawada and Guntur divisions in the two Telugu-speaking states.
The entire South Central Railway (SCR) network was adversely impacted due to heavy discharge of flood water from upstream that badly damaged tracks, compelling the authorities to reschedule or outright cancel several trains as a precautionary measure.
The inundation of the track between Kesamudram and Intekanne, Tadla Pusapalli and Mahabubabad and the Rayanapadu railway station resulted in cancellation or diversion of several train services. Almost 80 trains were cancelled, while five trains were partially cancelled to avoid any further congestion on the section. Nearly 49 trains were diverted via alternate routes to offer some relief to the stranded passengers.
SCR officials deployed all resources that were available to meet specific requirements in order to minimise inconvenience to passengers.
Arun Kumar Jain, SCR general manager, was personally monitoring the situation and regularly interacting with the concerned DRMs to assess the situation at the ground-level.
An emergency control room has been set up at rail nilayam, the SCR headquarters. At the divisional offices in Secunderabad, Guntur and Vijayawada, senior officers are regularly monitoring the situation at Rayanapadu, the worst hit. Heavy rains are causing major disruption of trains passing through this station. State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams have been evacuating stranded passengers at Rayanapadu station.
Helplines have been set up at major stations like Hyderabad, Secunderabad, Kazipet, Warangal, Khammam, Vijayawada, Rajahmundry, Guntur, Narasaraopet, Nalgonda, Miryalaguda, Nandyal, Donakonda and Nadikudi in the Secunderabad, Vijayawada and Guntur divisions.