Cyclone Vayu: Railways cancels 77 trains, short terminates 33 others

The railways has cancelled 77 trains and short terminated 33 others due to Cyclone Vayu, the Western Railways said Thursday.

The cancellations were made as a precaution even though the cyclone changed its course and is unlikely to make landfall in Gujarat. However, it will cause heavy rain in several coastal districts of the state.

"Considering the alertness for Cyclone Vayu over Gujarat, the Western Railway has decided to fully cancel operation of 77 mainline trains, while 33 other mainline trains have been short terminated with partial cancellation as a precautionary measure in the cyclone prone areas.

"In addition to this, various safety and security precautions are also being taken by the Western Railway for train passengers of these prone areas under the jurisdiction of WR -- Veraval, Okha, Porbandar, Bhavnagar, Bhuj and Gandhidham," the railways said.

The Veraval-Amreli, Amreli-Junagadh, Delvada-Veraval are some of the trains that were cancelled for Wednesday and Thursday.

The Western Railway has also decided to run special relief trains.

Two such special evacuation trains have been run in Rajkot division and one in Bhavnagar division to clear passengers from coastal area that are affected by the cyclone.

The state government has launched a massive evacuation exercise to shift about three lakh people from low-lying areas of Saurashtra and Kutch regions.