Title - Northern power failure: 200 trains hit

Train movement in north India was disrupted this morning due to the collapse of the Northern Grid with around 200 trains running behind schedule.

Railway officials said the train movement was affected in seven divisions -- Delhi, Ambala, Agra, Jhansi, Allahabad, Moradabad and Kota.

"Around 200 trains were affected," they said.

A number of passenger trains bound for Delhi and beyond, Chandigarh, Amritsar, Jammu, Ferozepur and Kalka were stranded at way side stations due to failure of electricity, a senior railway official said in Chandigarh.

He said efforts were on to move the passenger trains with diesel engines after detaching them from running goods trains which would remain halted at way side railway stations.

The stations where passenger trains were stranded include Ambala, Kurukshetra, Phillaur, Sirhind, Ludhiana, Phagwara and Karnal.

Some trains were stranded mid way as the electric engines hauling them came to a halt due to failure of power at about 2.30 AM.

Kalka Chandigarh Delhi Shatabdi Express left the local station 90 minutes behind scheduled departure of 6.53 AM after a diesel engine was attached to it.

The trains affected include Amritsar Delhi Shatabdi Express, Allahabad Chandigarh Unchahaar, Lucknow Chandigarh Sadbhavna, Howraha Kalka Mail, Delhi Jammu Mail and a number of other super fast, express, passenger and local trains.

The official said that the signal system had also blanked at a number of places due to the power failure.