The Hindu Business Line : Rail movement hit by floods

Two zonal railways, namely, South Eastern Railway (SER) and East Coast Railway (ECoR), are really in a bad shape these days. Heavy rainfall and the consequent flooding in certain areas of West Bengal and Orissa have dealt a severe blow to rail movement on several routes under their jurisdiction. The running of trains on the mainline, between Kharagpur and Balasore, having been suspended because of breaches on the railway track, most passenger trains on the Howrah-Bhubanesw ar-Chennai route have been cancelled. Attempts are being made to run some trains via Rourkela and Jharsuguda but such diversion is not easy. On the freight front too, ECoR particularly has been hard hit. The transportation of coal (for steel plants and power houses) and fertilisers, both imported through Paradip and Visakhapatnam ports, has been affected. The deadlock persisted till Saturday at Talcher mines, the major coal loading points for the railway, worsened by a strike by workers employed by private transport companies. Several power houses and aluminium plants depending on Talcher coal are facing a crisis. Attempts were made to load coal at IB Valley mines and transport them to the starving power houses, but without much success. The strike has been withdrawn and one hopes normalcy in coal loading at Talcher will return soon. After all, coal accounts for the bulk of ECoR’s total traffic throughput.

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