Concerning the Fani Cyclone, the railway said on Thursday that they have made canceled almost 223 Trains of Odisha Coastline on Kolkata-Chennai Route, whereas, they have made three special trains to service to rescue affected people in the coastal area. Cyclone Fani is expected to hit the state on 3rd May. These trains include 140 mail, express, train and 83 passenger trains.
A railway spokesman said that "All trains have been canceled due to the Cyclone Fani in Bhadrak-Vijayanagaram section of the Kolkata-Chennai route (on the Odisha coastline) till 4 May." On the other hand, officials say that the cyclone is likely to affect Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, and West Bengal. The route of nine trains has been changed while four others have been eliminated before the travel destination.
Railways said that if the proposed travel is offered for cancellation of the ticket within three days, then it will return the entire money for the train to cancel the canceled train or route. The canceled trains include Howrah-Chennai Central Coromandal Express, Patna-Ernakulam Express, New Delhi-Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express, Howrah-Hyderabad East Coast Express, Bhubneshwar-Rameswaram Express.
New Delhi-Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express, New Delhi-Puri Nandan Kanan Express, Puri-New Delhi Purushottam Express, and New Delhi-Puri Purushottam Express trains which had to start their journey on Thursday had to be canceled. Railways canceled six more trains which had to start the journey on Friday. This includes Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express and Puri-New Delhi Nandan Kanan Express.
Railways issued instructions to the Divisional Managers of all zones that Bhadrak (Odisha) – Visitors in both directions of the Vishakhapatnam section should be informed about the cancellation of trains, the completion of the journey before the destination and the changing of the route of trains, important stations But repeated announcements can be made. Railways has announced three special special trains to bring passengers from the affected areas so far.
A special train will start from Puri at 12 a.m., which will go towards Shalimar of Kolkata. There are reserved and unreserved coaches in it. This train will stop at Khurda Road, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Jajpur, Kendazhar Road, Bhadrak, Baleshwar and Kharagpur stations. Two other special trains will be from Puri to Howrah. Earlier on Wednesday, the railway had directed that adequate number of dried food, public utility and drinking water bottles should be provided on stalls of all major stations.
The railway said, "The emergency control department is working round-the-clock and it is helping the passengers through the helpline number. No employee has been asked to leave for the next three days. ' To deal with the emergency, the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC), the country's top body, reviewed preparations for the cyclone 'Phoenix' on Wednesday. About 900 cyclone shelters have been set up for the people to be evacuated from the affected areas.