Title - Southern Railway cancels some AP-bound trains - The Hindu

Southern Railway cancels some AP-bound trains PTI

The Hindu The Nizamuddin-Kanniyakumari Express is seen at the Tangutur railway station in Prakasam district on Sunday. Railway officials cancelled all goods and passenger services and ran express trains at reduced speeds in view of the indefinite strike by Seemandhra power employees. Photo: Kommuri Srinivas

The Hindu Police presence is seen at a power sub-station as electricity employees began an indefinite strike for Samaikyandhra in Ongole on Sunday. Photo: Kommuri Srinivas TOPICS India Andhra Pradesh


Southern Railway has cancelled a number of trains between Chennai and Andhra Pradesh on Monday due to agitation by some workers of the Andhra Pradesh Power Transmission Corporation over the Telangana issue.

The Jan Shatabdi Express running between Chennai Central and Vijayawada, scheduled to leave the city on Monday, has been cancelled, a Southern Railway release said.

Similarly, Monday’s Chennai Central-Gudur Passenger, Vijayawada-Chennai Central Pinakini Express and Bitragunta-Chennai Central Passenger have also been cancelled, the release said.

The South Central Railway has already cancelled several passenger trains running on Kazipet-Vijayawada, Vijayawada-Gudur-Tirupati sections on Sunday with a view to handle any situation arising out of possible break in power supply to railways.

In the morning, three trains were stopped between Vijayawada-Gudur by Samaikhyandhra agitators and later they were resumed with police escort, sources said.

The Jaipur-Chennai Express, Secunderabad-Gudur Simhapuri Express and Yaswantapur-Howrah Express trains were stopped on Vijayawada-Gudur Section, railway sources said.

Power employees step up stir

Stepping up their agitation, power employees in Seemandhra on Sunday began an indefinite strike to protest the decision to divide Andhra Pradesh.

Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy appealed to the agitating employees to resume their duties as power generation at several power stations in the Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions and supply was impacted resulting in unscheduled power cuts in the two regions and also Hyderabad.

As of now, generation is being maintained to some extent and the transmission and distribution were affected at several places, official sources said.

The Seemandhra electricity employees associations had announced that about 70,000 employees of power generation, transmission corporations and distribution companies would go on strike.

A report from Vijayawada said six out of seven units of Vijayawada Thermal Station were shutdown due to employees’ strike in support of Samaikhyandra.

Mr. Reddy appealed to the employees of the power generation, transmission corporations and distribution companies “to resume their duties immediately since their strike is seriously impacting important services like hospitals, drinking water, railways etc.”

He held a review meeting on the situation with senior officials of energy department, transmission and distribution companies, official sources said.

The employees should rethink about their strike on humanitarian grounds as general public is suffering for no fault of theirs, Mr. Reddy said in his appeal.

He has also directed the chief secretary and DGP to monitor the law and order situation closely and take stringent action against anti-social elements, sources said.

Our Staff Reporter S. Murali adds from Ongole:

Blackout in Prakasam district

Prakasam district witnessed a total power blackout on Sunday as electricity employees began indefinite strike which severely affected running of trains and water supply to habitations.

The 220 KV substation in Ongole and more than 180 sub-stations across the district tripped in the morning following the strike, official sources said. “We are making all out efforts to restore power supply as early as possible”, Superintending Engineer D. Jayabharath told The Hindu.

Railway officials cancelled all goods and passenger services and ran express trains at reduced speeds by augmenting power supply from Kavali in neighbouring Potti Sriramulu Nellore district.

Hit by the indefinite strike by RTC employees since August 12, 2013 people waited for long hours to board express trains. “We are making alternative arrangements to run trains with diesel engines”, said Ongole Station Manager T.Satyanarayana.

Keywords: Andhra Pradesh bifurcation, Samaikhyandra protest, power employees strike