Kolkata
Chief minister Suvendu Adhikari called an emergency meeting at Nabanna, the state secretariat, due to the sudden crisis.
Divisional railway manager (DRM) of the Eastern Railway’s Sealdah division Rajeev Saxena said around ten trains from Sealdah were cancelled until Friday afternoon. More trains between Kolkata and north Bengal were cancelled on Friday after fresh land subsidence disrupted track repair work at Farakka in Eastern Railway’s Malda division, where heavy rain had damaged the tracks on Thursday, railway officials said.
The district magistrates of Murshidabad and Malda have been asked to distribute food and water among the stranded passengers. “Our transport department will run 20 additional buses along the north Bengal route.
We will provide them accommodation in government facilities or private hotels if train services don’t resume by tonight,” Adhikari said.
Eastern Railway officials said the repair work was completely disrupted halfway when soil along an 80-metre stretch subsided on Friday, delaying the entire process. Because the subsidence tilted the poles along the tracks, the signalling system was also affected. On Thursday night, while repair work was in progress, additional divisional railway manager (ADRM) of the Malda division Amarendra Kumar Maurya, who was at the site, said the repair work was expected to be completed by Friday noon.
