No suspension of long distance train services: Rlys

Kolkata: Eastern Railway on Tuesday assured that long distance train services will not be suspended. However, a few local trains in the Howrah and Sealdah division have remained cancelled amid surge in Covid cases among railway employees.

"Eastern railway is continuing the long distance trains. There is no cancellation of long distance trains. A few local trains remained cancelled after the officials got infected with Coronavirus," said Ekalabya Chakraborty, Chief Public Relations Officer of Eastern Railway. According to sources, over 600 railway employees workers have tested Covid positive. On Monday, 66 local trains remained cancelled in the Sealdah division.

A loco pilot of an Express train, who was infected with COVID- 19, expired on Monday. Due to lack of guards, a total of 13 pairs of local trains had to be cancelled on Friday at various branches of the division.

On Saturday and Sunday, 25 local trains remained cancelled in the North and South section of the Sealdah Divison. On Saturday, 17 local trains remained cancelled in Howrah Divison.

Tains services were suspended in March 2020 in the wake of COVID- 19 pandemic. Suburban train services were resumed in Bengal from November 11, 2020 with strict COVID-19

protocols.

According to the operations department, 480 locals trains were operating in Howrah division before the lockdown. However, at present over 420 train services are running on a daily basis.

Out of 413 trains in the Sealdah Division, 270 are plying on the Sealdah Main/North (including Circular Railway) and 143 in the Sealdah South section.