SECUNDERABAD: Passengers were left stranded on Wednesday as several trains under South Central Railway (SCR) were either cancelled or diverted due to cyclone
Titli that lashed the west central Bay of Bengal. Three trains--Chennai Central-Howrah Express, Chennai Central-Santragachi Suvidha Special and Shalimar-Secunderabad Express were cancelled while Puducherry-Bhubaneswar Express, Bhagalpur-Yesvantpur Anga Express and Silchar-Thiruvanathapuram Express were cancelled partially.
With festive rush on, railways officials are opting for route diversions. For instance, Bengaluru-bound Humsafar Express which left Agartala on October 9 was diverted via Lharagpur, Rourkela, Sambalpur and Vizianagaram stations. The same route diversion was followed for Howrah-Chennai Coramandal Express, Howrah-Sri Satyasai Prashanthi Nilayam Express and Howrah-Yeshwantpur Express which have begun their trips. Howrah-Chennai Express and Shalimar-Nagarcoil Gurudev Express are rescheduled to start at 8am and 8.15am respectively on October 11.
The railways have alerted that trains via Secunderabad-Vijayawada as well as Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam sections are likely to be cancelled, short terminated or diverted through suitable routes to avoid Titli scare.