Around 41 pairs of mail trains, 17 pairs of suburban trains on the Howrah-Burdwan main line and 14 pairs of Howrah-Burdwan chord line have been cancelled by the railway for the dismantling of the old Railway Over Bridge (ROB) at the Burdwan station, on Thursday.
The railway has planned a mega power block for 14 hours starting from 1:30 am to 3:30 pm on Thursday for the same on the Howrah-Burdwan route due to which the mentioned number of trains have been cancelled.
The work on ROB has been ongoing since January 26. It is scheduled to be completed by February 21, according to Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Howrah, Manish Jain. In 2019, when the project was commissioned, initially a three-month plan was formalised. However, according to Jain, the days were compressed by the engineers to 21 days.
Since the cancellation of trains, particularly suburban ones, will cause massive problems for commuters, the railway has planned alternatives such as running shuttle services. On Thursday, because of dismantlement work, Lines 1 and 2 of the Burdwan station will remain shut. Railway will run 11 pairs of local trains between Howrah and Saktigarh, and 10 pairs between Howrah and Masagram.
The 41 pairs of cancelled mail trains will include New Jalpaiguri Shatabdi, Patna Shatabdi, and Ranchi Shatabdi. However, trains, including Rajdhani and Vande Bharat Express, will remain operational.