Darbhanga-Samastipur rail link snapped

PATNA: The East Central Railway (ECR) on Sunday suspended train traffic on the Samastipur-Darbhanga section after the sudden rise in the floodwaters level between Hayaghat and Thalwara in Samastipur. The railways took this decision after floodwaters were flowing hardly 2 feet below the Hayaghat bridge in the morning, ECR’s chief public relations officer (CPRO) Rajesh Kumar said.
According to Kumar, railways has cancelled Samastipur-Raxaul passenger (75225), Samastipur-Muzaffarpur passenger (75207), Darbhanga-Samastipur passenger (75282), Jayanagar-Katihar Manihari Express (15284), Jayanagar-Patna Intercity Express (15549), Patna-Jayanagar Intercity Express (15550) and Jayanagar-Samastipur passenger (55520) trains.
Besides, railways diverted the routes of Darbhanga-New Delhi Bihar Sampark Kranti Express (12565), Raxaul-Hyderabad Express (17006), Ahmedabad-Darbhanga Jansadharan Express (15560), Jayanagar-Amritsar Express (14649), Kolkata- Sitamarhi Express (13165) and Sitamarhi-Kolkata Express (13166) via Darbhanga-Sitamarhi-Muzaffarpur route instead of the scheduled Darbhanga-Samastipur-Muzaffarpur route on Sunday, the CPRO said.
Railways has also short-terminated Sealdah-Jayanagar Express (13185/13186) and Amritsar-Darbhanga Jannayak Express (15212) at Samastipur till the floodwaters recede near the bridge. Ranchi-Jayanagar Express (18605/18606), Howrah-Jayanagar Express (53041/53042) and Anand Vihar Terminal-Jayanagar Express (12570) are short-terminated at Barauni. Similarly, Kolkata-Jayanagar Express (13135/13136) was short-terminated at Samastipur and Jayanagar-Patna City Intercity (55527) at Darbhanga, he said.
Talking to this newspaper on Sunday, the CPRO said railways has kept relief materials ready at each vulnerable flood site in Samastipur division. “Boulders, stone dust, rails, sleepers and relief girders have been loaded on wagons near the flood affected areas so that they could be rushed in any emergency or breach of bridges,” he said, adding railways has so far installed automatic water level gauges on 14 bridges in Samastipur division to get a quick signal about floodwaters crossing the danger level at those places.
The CPRO said hundreds of engineering and safety staff are camping at each vulnerable site in Samastipur to keep a close watch on the track and bridge conditions. These staff have been provided with the modern communication equipment to inform the nearest railway station, ECR emergency control room at Hajipur and divisional control room at Samastipur in case of any emergency. Railway safety staff are also in touch with the headquarters through SMS to update flood situation in the division, Kumar said, adding that track and bridge patrolling was being done round the clock.