Bihar: 17 trains cancelled, 13 diverted on two routes

PATNA: Altogether 17 passenger trains on the Patna-Gaya and Rajgir-Bakhtiyarpur routes have been temporarily cancelled by the East Central Railway (ECR) since Thursday evening due to the rise in water level in the Punpun river at bridge number 21 between Punpun and Parsa Bazar and bridge number 53 between Biharsharif and Wena stations.

ECR chief public relations officer (CPRO) Rajesh Kumar said the cancelled trains are Rajgir-Bakhtiyarpur passenger (53221), Patna-Gaya passenger (63243/63249/63251/63257/63241), Danapur-Rajgir passenger (13234), Danapur-Tilaiya passenger (53232), Bakhtiyarpur-Rajgir passenger (53224/53223/53222), Bakhtiyarpur-Gaya passenger (53226/53225), Gaya-Kiul passenger (53626/53629/53630) and Kiul-Gaya passenger (53627).

“Besides, railways short terminated the Gaya-Patna MEMUs (63242/63244/63245/63250/63254/63248) at Punpun while Howrah-Rajgir Fast Passenger (53043) was short terminated at Bakhtiyarpur on Friday,” the CPRO said.

Meanwhile, railways has diverted the routes of at least 13 long distance mail and express trains of the ECR on Friday.

“While the Patna-Barkakana Palamu Express (13348) was diverted to Ara-Sasaram route, Islampur-Hatia Express (18623/18624) and Dhanbad-Patna Ganga Damodar Express (13329/13330) were diverted to Patna-Kiul-Jhajha-Pradhankhunta route,” the CPRO said adding, the Rajgir-Varanasi Budh Purnima Express (14223/14224) was diverted to Tilaiya-Gaya route while Rajgir-New Delhi Shramjeevi Express (12391/12392) was diverted to Rajgir-Biharsharif-Daniyawan-Fatuha-Patna route. Bhabua Road-Patna Intercity Express (13244) was diverted to Sasaram-Ara-Patna route.

A senior official of the Danapur division said railway safety employees have been asked to report to the Danapur control room and ECR headquarters at Hajipur in case of emergency.

“We will use sandbags, stone chips and saw dust to protect the tracks from the river water,” the official said, adding railways has also increased surveillance on all the bridges of the division.