Departure of flights from Kolkata airport halted due to strong crosswinds

Kolkata: Flight operations at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) Airport were disrupted following heavy rains coupled with gusty winds caused due to deep depression over Gangetic West Bengal.

Several Kolkata-bound flights were unable to land at the airport due to bad weather on Monday morning. Flight operations did not normalise till reports last came in. According to a senior official of the NSCBI Airport, many flights were diverted to Bhubaneswar, Guwahati and other airports in the region.

Flights were not able to land or take off since 9 am on Monday. Some of the city-bound flights were diverted to Ranchi, Patna, Agartala. It was learnt that one flight was diverted to Bangladesh due to the inclement weather.

Several domestic flights to Mumbai, Delhi, Guwahati, Bhubaneswar, Imphal and Port Blair were delayed. Some of the Kolkata-bound flights were cancelled due to bad weather.

Suburban train services in Sealdah South & Main sections and Howrah — Bardhaman chord line section were slightly affected on MOnday due to heavy rain and storm, as tree branches fell on railway tracks at several places.

Track Maintenance Crews and Tower Van Crews acted on war footing to remove tree branches from the railway tracks and overhead wires and maintain train movement. In Sealdah Division, tree branches had fallen on Up line track between Sonarpur-Narendrapur stations of Sealdah South section at 10.45 am and was removed at around 11.05 am on Monday. Tree branches also had fallen on Up line and touched the overhead wire between Canning and Taldi stations at 9 am which were cleared by 9.45 am. Tree branches fell on the Down main line overhead wire between Belgharia and Dum Dum Junction stations. Train services in Barasat-Hansnabad Section was also disrupted as tree branches fell on railway tracks between Hansnabad and Madhyampur stations at around 8:30 am.

Five pairs of EMU locals of Sealdah Division and nine pairs of local trains of Howrah Division had to be cancelled.