Indian Railways has cancelled over 300 trains as Odisha and West Bengal brace for cyclone Dana – which is likely to intensify into a severe storm on Thursday. The South Eastern Railway has cancelled more than 150 express and passenger trains. Some of these trains include Howrah-Secunderabad Falaknuma Express, Kamakhya-Yesvantpur AC Express, Howrah-Puri Shatabdi Express, Howrah-Bhubaneswar Shatabdi Express and Howrah-Yesvantpur Express.
A total of 198 trains passing through and originating from Odisha have been cancelled by East Coast Railways. The list includes Howrah-Secunderabad, Shalimar Puri, Kamakhya-Bangalore, New Delhi-Bhubaneswar, Kharagpur-Villupuram, Howrah-Bhubaneswar, Shalimar-Hyderbad, Howrah-Puri and others. It has also cancelled several express trains including Patna-Ernakulam Express, Kolkata-Puri, Puri-Kolkata, Dibrugarh-Kanniyakumari, Bengaluru-Guwahati among others.
IMD claims that cyclone Dana moved at a speed of 18km/hr during the last six hours and lay over east-central Bay of Bengal. In a statement, IMD added, "It is very likely to move northwestwards and intensify into a severe cyclonic storm over northwest Bay of Bengal by early morning of Thursday. It will cross north Odisha and West Bengal coasts between Puri and Sagar Island as a ‘severe’ cyclone during night of Thursday and Friday."
Some other cancelled trains are listed below.
- 12552- Kamakhya- SMVB Bengaluru Express
- 22644- Patna – Ernakulam Express
- 3101- Kolkata – Puri Express Special
- 3102- Puri- Kolkata Express Special
- 22504- Dibrugarh- Kannniyakumari Express
- 22503- Kannniyakumari- Dibrugarh Express
- 12509- SMVB Bengaluru – Guwahati Express
- 3429- Secunderabad – Malda Town Express special
- 3430- Malda Town – Secunderabad Express special
- 18419- Puri – Jaynagar Express
- 22202- Puri – Sealdah Duronto Express
- 22202- Sealdah – Puri Duronto Express
- 3230- Patna – Puri Express Special
- 12514- Silchar – Secunderabad Superfast Express
- 15227- SMVB Bengaluru – Muzaffarpur Express
- 13418- Malda Town – Digha Express
- 13417- Digha – Malda Town Express
- 22330- Asansol – Haldia Express
- 22329- Haldia – Asansol Express