Thaindian News

Hyderabad, July 13 (IANS) The railways have cancelled 31 Express and 116 passenger trains in the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh Thursday in view of the rail blockade called by the Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) pressing for a separate state.

The South Central Railway (SCR) has also partially cancelled 20 Express and 14 passenger trains, rescheduled 23 and diverted 23 Express trains.

All 51 DHMU (Diesel Hydraulic Multiple Unit) services in Telangana and MMTS (Multi-Modal Transport System) trains in Hyderabad and Secunderabad have also been cancelled.

As many as 31 Express trains running in Telangana and connecting the region to destinations in Andhra and Rayalaseema have been cancelled.

State-owned Andhra Pradesh Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) has decided to operate additional buses from Hyderabad to various destinations in Telangana and other towns in the state to clear the extra rush of passengers in view of rail blockade.

Meanwhile, JAC convenor M. Kodandaram said the rail blockade will be held from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday. He appealed to people to make it a huge success.

The rail blockade was earlier scheduled July 8-9 but the JAC postponed it to involve the Congress and the Telugu Desam Party in the protest.

With the two main parties deciding not to join hands with the JAC for joint agitation, the committee announced it would go ahead with the rail blockade on its own. However, the agitation was truncated to one day — July 14.

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and some other political and non-political groups fighting for a separate Telangana state are part of the JAC.

The partially cancelled Express trains include Howrah-Hyderabad, Chhatrapati Shivaji(T)-Hyderabad, Bangalore-Nanded, Chennai-Egmore-Kacheguda, Secunderabad-Manmad, Secunderabad-Mumbai, Secunderabad-Bhubaneshwar, Secunderabad-Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad-Trivandrum, Mumbai-Secunderabad, Yeshvantpur-Secunderabad, Rajkot-Secunderabad, and Chennai-Hyderabad.

Ahemedabad-Chennai, New Delhi-Tiruvanantapuram, Mumbai-Bhubaneswar, Nizamuddin-Visakhapatnam, Bhubbaneswar-Mumbai, Nagpur-Mumbai, Madras-New Delhi, Thiruvanthapuram-New Delhi, Chennai-Ahemadabad, Bangalore-Patna, Mumbai-Nagpur, Bangalore-Nizamuddin and Yesvantpur-Nizamuddin are among long distance trains which will be diverted.

The rescheduled trains include New Delhi-Hyderabad, Patna-Secunderabad, Hyderabad-Chennai, Secunderabad-Tirupati, Secunderabad-Howrah. Hyderabad-New Delhi, Hyderabad-Chennai, Nanded-Bangalore-Hampi, Kacheguda-Bangalore and Kacheguda-Chennai-Egmore.

The movement of trains in Secunderabad-Kazipet, Wadi-Secunderabad, Vikarabad-Parli, Nadikude-Bibinagar, Mudkhed-Secunderabad, Vijayawada-Kazipet-Ballarshah and Dhone-Secunderabad sections have been affected.