Cyclone Jawad is likely to disrupt train schedules over the next few days. South Western Railways has cancelled several trains.
Passengers are stranded at Bangalore’s train stations as over 30 trains have been cancelled due to Cyclone Jawad. The cyclone predicted to reach Andhra Pradesh and Odisha on Saturday.
Maria, station master of Bangalore cantonment said, “Only two trains have been cancelled for today.” No other trains have been arranged in replacement of this cancelled train as far now, she added.
At Yeshwantpur railway station two trains—Howrah Duranto and Howrah Superfast—got cancelled today. Tirtha Majhee, a passenger, said he had been waiting since morning at Yeshwantpur railway station. His train was supposed to leave at 11:00 a.m.
Some passengers are taking another train to go to Agartala. Ramesh Kumar, a passenger in the Bangalore Cantonment station said, “After the train got cancelled, I booked tickets from Yeswantpur to Kamakhya and from there I will go to Agartala.”
Gaurav Jhadav, another passenger, stated, “I bought a ticket to Patna, but it is on a waiting list of 130 people. I’m concerned about how I’ll get to my house because I am running out of money as well.”
Passengers are still confused about which train to board.
Authorities from South Western railways have cancelled 31 trains till December 7 due to Cyclone Jawad. Andhra Pradesh weather department said that in the last six hours, the Deep Depression over the Bay of Bengal moved north-northwestwards at 30 kmph. At 8:30 a.m. today, it was centred around the south of Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Gopalpur in Odisha.
The department also said that it is likely to move northwestwards and intensify into a cyclonic storm during the next six hours. It will reach the west-central Bay of Bengal off north Andhra Pradesh – south Odisha coasts by tomorrow, Dec. 4. After that, it is likely to re-curve north-northeastwards and move along Odisha coast during the next 24 hours with a maximum constant wind speed of 80-90 kilometres per hour gusting to 100 kilometre per hour.
Dr. Geeta Agnihotri, the Karnataka weather department, said, “There will be no significant impact in Karnataka in terms of heavy rain or coastal flooding.”
