Southern Railways announced the cancellation of a number of trains between May 3 and 5 in view of Cyclone Fani, categorised as a severe cyclonic storm, that has started making landfall near Puri in the state of Odisha and is likely to affect parts of West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh.
A number of trains travelling to and from Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka, along the coastal route, have been cancelled. Flights to and from Bhubaneswar have also been cancelled from May 3.
Some of these trains were cancelled consequent to the cancellation of trains by East Coast Railway, South Eastern Railway and East Central Railway in view of the cyclone. According to a Friday morning bulletin by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the cyclone is likely to cross between Gopalpur and Chandabali close to Puri with a maximum sustained wind speed of 170-180 kmph, gusting to 200 kmph. In Andhra Pradesh, a red alert was sounded for Srikakulam and Vizianagaram districts which have been receiving heavy rainfall.
Full list of trains that stand cancelled:
Train No.02842 MGR Chennai Central - Santragachi Special fare special of 04th May, 2019 is cancelled.
Train No.22852 Mangalore – Santragachi Vivek Weekly Express of 04th May, 2019 is cancelled.
Train No. 22606 Villupuram – Purulia Weekly Express of 04th May, 2019 is cancelled.
Train No.18495 Rameswaram – Bhubaneswar Weekly Express of 05th May, 2019 is cancelled.
Train No.82636 Kochuveli – Guwahati Suvidha special of 05th May, 2019 is cancelled.
Train No.12507 Thiruvananthapuram – Silchar Aronai Weekly Express of 07th May, 2019 is cancelled.
Train No.02841 Santragachi – MGR Chennai Central Special fare special of 03rd May, 2019 is cancelled.
Train No. 12863 Howrah – Yesvantpur Express of 03rd May, 2019 is cancelled.
Train No. 12839 Howrah – MGR Chennai Central Mail of 03rd May, 2019 is cancelled.
Train No. 22644 Patna – Ernakulam Bi-Weekly Express of 03rd May, 2019 is cancelled.
Train No. 12246 Yesvantpur – Howrah Duronto Express of 03rd May, 2019 is cancelled.
Train No. 12503 Bangalore Cantonment – Agartala Humsafar Bi-Weekly Express of 03rd May, 2019 is cancelled.
All flights to and from Bhubaneswar have been cancelled for 24 hours starting midnight of May 3, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said on Thursday.
The regulatory body for civil aviation issued an advance order to cancel all flights to and from Kolkata between 9.30 pm on May 3 and 6 pm on May 4 to ensure the safety of operations during the cyclone.
"All airlines and operators are informed that due to approaching severe cyclonic storm Fani, flights to and from Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar will be cancelled between 12 a.m. on May 3 to 11.59 p.m. on May 4. Flights from Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata will be cancelled between 9.30 p.m. on May 3 to 6 p.m. on May 4," the DGCA said in a tweet.
"Resumption of the flight will be with positive clearance from respective air traffic control," it added.
Airlines such as Air India and GoAir waived-off cancellations and change charges for flights to and from Bhubaneswar.
"In view of cyclone 'Fani', passengers travelling to and from Bhubaneswar, Kolkata and Ranchi might be inconvenienced. GoAir is waiving cancellation and change fees for Bhubaneswar, Kolkata and Ranchi flights for travel between May 2, 2019 to May 5, 2019," GoAir said in a statement.
"Passengers are allowed to re-book their flights within 7 days of scheduled departure."
Similarly, Air India tweeted: "#FlyAI : Due to #CycloneFani all #AirIndia flights to/from #Bhubaneswar havebeen #cancelled for tomorrow (May3 2019).Applicable penalties of re-issuance,datechange,no-