Rail traffic through Nagpur affected

Nagpur, July 8 (UNI) Rail traffic on the New Delhi-Chennai route was affected for five hours after boulders fell onto the tracks on the Nagpur-Itarsi section of Central Railway (CR) early today.

The boulders damaged the Up as well as the Down lines between Dharakhoh and Ghodadongri stations at 0615 hrs, according to a CR press release here.

Through traffic was restored just before noon after both the lines were repaired, release said.

Several trains on the route had to be diverted while others were delayed, it said. The 2410 Hazrat Nizamuddin-Bilaspur Gondwana Express was diverted via Itarsi-Khandwa-Bhusawal-Wardha-Nagpur, it said, adding that the 2724 New DelhiHyderabad AP Express would run via Itarsi, Bhusawal and Wardha, and would not pass through Nagpur.

The 2591 Gorakhpur-Bangalore Express was delayed by 8 hours, 2430 Hazrat Nizamuddin-Bangalore Rajdhani Express by 4 hours, 6032 Jammutawi-Chennai Express by 3 hours, 2616 New Delhi-Chennai GT Express by 2 hours, it said.

This is the second time in as many days that train traffic on the section has been affected, having been thrown out of gear yesterday also after heavy boulders fell on the track due to a landslide between Dharakho and Amjhiri stations near Betul.

Meanwhile, train traffic through Nagpur on the Mumbai-Howrah route had also been affected because of heavy rains in Kolkata, the release said.

The 2810 Howrah-Mumbai Mail and the 2906 Howrah-Porbandar Express passing through Nagpur today have been cancelled, it said. The 2860 Howrah-Mumbai Geetanjali Express was running 5 hours late, it added.

UNI