Hundreds of passengers were stranded in Srikakualam, Palasa and Naupada railway stations on Monday with the halt of important trains due to lack of power supply for their movement.
The shortage of power supply due to electricity employees strike has badly hit the movement of around six trains. Many goods trains were also stranded in Palasa and Srikakulam stations. The train services to important destinations including Chennai, Bhubaneswar, Howrah and Bangalore was also disrupted severely because of the electricity employees’ strike.
Visakha Express ( Secunderabad-Bhubaneswar, Train No.17106) was halted for more than two-and-a-half hours at Palasa station. It reached Palasa at 11.10 a.m. but could not move till 2.30 p.m. Howrah-Chennai Mail express (Train No.12839) was stationed at Palasa from 11 a.m. onwards. Shalimar-Trivendrum Express (Train No.16324) reached Palasa at 11.05 a.m. and was halted in the station for more than three-and-a-half hours.
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Prashanti Express (Bhubaneswar-Bangalore, Train No.18463) could not move from Naupada station from 10.30 a.m. onwards. Howrah-Pondicherry express was also affected with the strike being observed by electricity employees in support of United AP Movement. East Coast Railway authorities are trying to operate the services with diesel engines. But they have limited diesel engines and could not make arrangements for all the trains. The railway officials fear that the impact will be more on other trains too if the strike was not called off immediately.
Srikakulam Electricity Employees JAC convener Gopala Rao told The Hindu that the impact will be much more from Tuesday. “Already many trains were stranded at several stations of Srikakulam district. As many as 48 lakh consumers will also get affected with our strike in North Andhra region,” he said.