Bhubaneswar: East Coast Railway (ECoR) has planned to reschedule or cancel some of its trains after the weather department predicted dense fog during late night and early morning hours especially in Northern parts of India and some parts in ECoR jurisdiction.
Dense fog may affect the punctuality of train services towards/from ECoR.
Many important trains like Purusottam, Neelachal, Nandankanan, Sampark Kranti, Duronto, Kalinga Utkal, Rajdhani and New Delhi Superfast via Angul & Jharsuguda, Sambalpur-Jammu Tawi Express trains may be affected badly. This may cause abnormal delay of connecting train movements also.
ECoR sources said rescheduling and cancellation of trains will be announced in the media from time to time and urged passengers to bear with the delay in train running as the situation is unavoidable.
It urged passengers to refer Helpline/Enquiry No 139 to know the current status of their trains or may follow National Train Enquiry System (NTES) in website or in NTES app in mobile.
Railways have extended its SMS alerts for cancellation of trains and also for departure delays. SMS alerts are being sent to passengers to intimate them on boarding at the departure station.
The idea is to inform passengers in advance about cancellation of trains and trains running behind schedule so that they will not wait for long hours at railway stations and help passengers to plan their arrival.
Apart from this, ECoR has geared up its manpower to cope with the dense fog during night and early morning in various railway sections under its jurisdiction in areas prone to be affected by fog and precautions have been taken regarding train running during the winter season.
Drivers have been instructed to regulate train speed depending on visibility conditions for the safety of passengers and train movement.
Railways have stepped up monitoring 24X7 the running of trains and a special drive has now been started with the onset of the winter season and prevalence of fog in the morning hours.