Railway bridge washed away in Odisha, train services affected

BHUBANESWAR: Train services have been badly affected in Rayagada-Titlagarh section after a railway bridge between Therubali and Singapur Road in Rayagada district washed away due to heavy flow of flood water in the Nagabali River on Sunday.
Incessant rain since Saturday evening lashed Rayagada and its neighbouring districts and created flood in Nagabali river.Under the impact of the heavy water flow in the river, two pillars of railway bridge no- 588 between Therubali and Singapur Road stations collapsed. It all happened at around 11 am.
East Coast Railway (ECoR) sources said an alert gangman stopped an approached goods train which was supposed to pass on this bridge during the washing away of the bridge. He averted a possible accident, it added.
As many as 11 trains were cancelled and several others controlled and short-terminated at different places due to the incident. The cancelled trains were — Raipur-Visakhapatnam Passenger, Durg-Visakhapatnam, Sambalpur – Koraput, Sambalpur – Rayagada, Rourkela – Koraput, Durg-Jagdalpur express, Jagdalpur - Durg express, Sambalpur - Nanded express, Nanded - Sambalpur express, Bilaspur - Tirupati express and Tirupati - Bilaspur express.

Six trains were partially cancelled. These were- Sambalpur-Rayagada Express, Raipur-Visakhapatnam Passenger, Howrah-Jagadalpur Samaleswari Express and its return train, Sambalpur-Koraput Passenger and Koraput-Sambalpur Pasenger train. Besides, eight trains were controlled at different places to ease the traffic in the route.
Trains originating and reaching to Visakhapatnam via Vizianagaram, Singapur Road and Titlagarh junction have been delayed. Efforts are on to restore the movement of trains in the section through the second railway bridge on the river, ECoR sources said.
A statement from ECoR chief public relations officer JP Mishra said senior officers reached the site to take stock of the situation. Materials have been sent to the site to be used in the relief work, he added.
“We have opened emergency control rooms at Bhubaneswar, Sambalpur, Khurda Road and Visakhapatnam. Principal chief engineer of Railways has already advised local divisions to put in all available resources to restore traffic early. ECoR general manager Umesh Singh inquired about the flood position and advised restoration on high priority,” said Mishra.
Flood waters have not receded yet. Work of the collapsed bridge will start after receding of flood water in the Nagabali river, said a senior railway officer.