The Railways on Monday made a last-minute announcement, cancelling 16 trains, partially cancelling six and diverting eight others from March 21 to 29, in a move that will hit thousands of passengers.
The South Western Railway said the cancellation was necessary to carry out doubling and electrification works on Hindupur-Penukonda (37 km) section. "We are forced to take these steps. However, this is just a temporary inconvenience. Once the works are carried out, the capacity will increase and we can run more number of trains smoothly with greater speed," Chief Public Relations Officer Aneesh Hegde said.
Asked about the reason for the delay in announcement, a senior official said getting clearances from different railway zones and the exigency of the works together made it difficult for a prior announcement. "We acknowledge that the announcement should be made days earlier. We request the cooperation of the public, especially our passengers who already booked the tickets," he said.
Chief Commercial Manager (Passenger-Services) Anup Dayanand Sadhu said SMS has been sent to all passengers who had booked tickets on the trains indicating the status of cancellation/partial cancellation and diversion.
The doubling and electrification of the Yelahanka-Penukonda (120 km) section, a key arterial route linking Bengaluru to Telangana, was sanctioned in 2015-16. Officials said they plan to complete the work on the 37-km section by March-end.
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