Cyclone Michaung makes airways, railways halt

Hyderabad: Due to effects of cyclone Michaung, the railways cancelled many services towards southern and eastern parts of India. A few domestic flights have also been cancelled, causing severe inconvenience to passengers.

Many passengers were left stranded at the Hyderabad airport on Tuesday. Due to bad weather, around 20 flights from Hyderabad to Chennai, Visakhapatnam, Tirupati and Rajahmundry were cancelled.

The SCR has temporality cancelled 315 trains, including Hyderabad-Tambaram Charminar Express, Lingampally- Tirupati Narayanadri Express, Secunderabad-GudurSimhapuri Express and Secunderabad-Trivandrum Sabari Express.

“Passengers who were waiting for flights took to social media and raised concerns that there has been no clarity. They said passengers were not informed about the cancellation. ‘We were only informed that our flight to Chennai has been re-scheduled,” tweeted Ajay Reddy.

Shrihari of Nampally said, “Our train from Hyderabad to Goa was cancelled at last minute. After reaching the station I was informed that my train has been cancelled. No intimation, no refund, no message about the cancellation from IRCTC was received.” Said Sunil, a passenger ,“Our flight got cancelled; what about the refund, as airport officials have not given any clarity on refund and no information when the services would resume.”

Said a senior SCR officer special counters have been set up at various stations; various persecutions have been taken like monsoon patrolling of tracks that are likely to be affected. Stationary watchmen are also being posted at all bridges and locations to get real-time information.

A few trains are being restored on Tuesday, including train no 12710 (Secunderabad-Gudur), tgrain no 12764 (Secunderabad-Tirupati ). A few more trains are being restored, said the officer. Earlier, SCR general manager Arun Kumar Jain directed railway officials to closely monitor path of the cyclone for undertaking necessary measures. He advised them to closely liaison with the State government officials and NDRF teams to ensure safety of track and train operations.

According to latest information from the GMR Hyderabad International Airport website, the count of domestic flights cancelled at noon on Tuesday reached 25 departures and 34 arrivals. Around 20 flights have been cancelled.