Kolkata: Train services under the South Eastern Railway (SER) were thrown into disarray on Tuesday following a major technical glitch that emerged after the completion of non-interlocking work related to the yard remodelling at the Santragachi Rail Yard.
The snag led to widespread delays and cancellations, leaving thousands of passengers stranded at the new complex of Howrah Station.The disruption follows the completion of non-interlocking (NI) work on May 18. Despite the formal conclusion of the upgrade, which included the commissioning of an electronic interlocking system with 533 routes, technical glitches began surfacing on Monday and worsened considerably
by Tuesday. As a result, four express trains were cancelled on Tuesday and will remain suspended on Wednesday.
These include the Howrah-Purulia Rupashi Bangla SF Express, Howrah-Barbil Jan Shatabdi Express, Digha-Howrah Tamralipta Express and the Howrah-Digha Kandari Express. Several other services, such as the Bhanjpur-Shalimar Express and the Adra-Howrah Express, were short-terminated at Kharagpur and will originate from there. At least 14 local trains were
also cancelled. The glitch had a cascading impact on long-distance train schedules. The Gitanjali Express departed nearly four hours late, while the SMVT Bengaluru Duronto Express was delayed by almost nine hours from its scheduled 10:40 am departure. Inbound trains to Howrah also faced severe delays.
While acknowledging the continuing technical snags, SER has not provided a timeline for full restoration, stating only that “train services are expected to be normal soon”.