Train services in Bhubaneswar to resume from today; no train to Puri till May 10

New Delhi, May 05: The Railways will resume all train services from Bhubaneshwar on Sunday, except two, and it has already cleared the Howrah-Chennai mainline, barely 24 hours after Cyclone Fani hit Odisha on May 3.

Railways have resumed services in less than 24 hours of the cyclone wreaking havoc in the state.

Two trains originating from Bhubaneshwar will remain cancelled and all services to Puri are unlikely to begin before May 10. Bhubaneshwar-Tirupati and Vidakhapatnam Intercity have been cancelled due to non-availability of pairing trains, JP Mishra, a spokesperson of the East Coast Railway, said.

Prashanti Express, Visakha Express, Rajdhani Express, Konark Express and Hirakhand express which originate from Bhubaneshwar will ply normally from Sunday.

However, it will take more time to restore train services to Puri. ''. "No train to Puri till May 10 at least," said ECoR statement read.

East Coast Railways also stated that fourteen passenger train services will also resume in the state from Sunday.

Train services on the mainline have been partially restored where there has been extensive damage to the rail infrastructure. The section of Puri/Bhubaneshwar/Khurda Road has been badly damaged.

The IMD had tweeted that Cyclone Fani has weakened into a deep depression and has moved further towards Bangladesh. A tweet said, "The Cyclone 'FANI' over Gangetic West Bengal moved further east-northeastwards & weakened into a Deep Depression, lay centred at 0830 hrs IST over Bangladesh near lat 23.6°N & long 88.8°E. It is very likely to move northeastwards, weaken further into a Depression during next 06 hrs."

Cyclone Fani is the most powerful tropical storm to hit India in 20 years but it failed to cause widespread death and destruction due to the pre-emptive measures taken by the state government and other agencies.