Shatabdi to be back on track today, 60 trains to remain hit

Nitish Sharma

Ambala, July 11

Train traffic continued to remain affected across the Ambala Division of Northern Railway due to waterlogging today. However, the division has started restoring its affected sections and the traffic is expected to resume on most sections, including Ambala-Chandigarh, Ambala-Kalka, and Ambala-Saharanpur, tomorrow.

A large number of trains were cancelled, diverted, short terminated and short originated today to ensure safe operations. A railway track near Ghasitpur village in Ambala Cantonment was damaged due to heavy flow of water.

As per the Railways, about 60 trains will continue to remain affected due to waterlogging. The Kalka-Howrah (12312) train and the Lucknow-Chandigarh (15011) were cancelled today. The New Delhi-Amb Andaura (22447) train will be cancelled on July 12 and 13, the Ambala-Delhi (14522) on July 12 and the Daulatpur Chowk-Sabarmati Express (19412) on July 12 and 13.

The services of seven pairs of trains, including 04543 (Kalka-Shimla), 52459 (Kalka-Shimla), 52455 (Kalka-Shimla), 72452 (Shimla-Kalka) and 04544 (Shimla-Kalka), will remain suspended from July 12 to 16 due to hill slip and falling of trees and boulders.

Mandeep Singh Bhatia, Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), Ambala Division, said, “While the traffic on the Kalka-Shimla section will be suspended till July 16, the Patiala-Rajpura-Ludhiana section has been restored. On the Ambala-Chandigarh section, while goods train will start plying tonight, coach trains will start run tomorrow morning. We will try to restore the Chandigarh-Chandimandir-Kalka, Chandigarh-Mohali-New Morinda and New Morinda to Sahnewal routes tomorrow. The Ambala-Saharanpur section has been inspected. There is water overflowing near Kesri village. As soon as the water level recedes, we will start the Saharanpur section as well by Wednesday evening.”

“The New Delhi-Chandigarh Shatabdi will resume service tomorrow morning. Efforts are being made to restore the Kalka-Shatabdi train by Wednesday evening. Some trains are cancelled due to unavailability of rakes. They will also return to tracks soon,” he added.

Meanwhile, hundreds of passengers faced inconvenience due to cancellation of trains. A large number of people kept waiting with their families, including minor children, and luggage at the Ambala Cantonment railway station. Suresh Pal, a resident of Bihar, said he worked as a labourer in Chandigarh and wanted to go back to Bihar, but there was no train.

Passengers whose train were short terminated at the Ambala Cantonment station were found looking for private taxis for Chandigarh.