Yamuna rises, rains keep off 'loha pul'

Some trains cancelled, diverted from 150-year-old rail-cum-road bridge

With water level in Yamuna breaking all records, the Northern Railway was forced to divert train running on the 150-year-old iron bridge connecting Shahdara and the Old Delhi railway station on Wednesday.

The bridge has been closed for all the trains barring a few EMU, MEMU and DEMU trains – serving the satellite towns – which would run at restricted speed.

The closure of the heritage bridge hit rail traffic as at least four trains were cancelled on Wednesday. While the movement of around 150 east-bound trains was affected as a majority of them were diverted through New Delhi and Nizamuddin railway stations, a few others were short terminated at different stations in the vicinity. The bridge will remain out of service until water recedes in Yamuna.
 
“Due to increase in the water level, movement of trains over Yamuna Bridge between Old Delhi and Shahdara railway stations on Delhi division has been suspended from 12 noon on Wednesday till further advice,” said a Northern Railway officer.

Long-distance trains

Around 150 long-distance mail and express trains operate via Old Delhi railway station and they invariably use the iron bridge while on its way to Shahdara-Ghaziabad route. However, a majority of the trains are now being diverted through other stations like New Delhi, Nizamuddin and Sarai Rohilla.

Some of the major trains which will be affected include Katihar-Amritsar Amarpali Express,  Allahabad-Chandigarh Unchahar Express, Tata Nagar-Amritsar-Jammu Tawi  Express, Sealdah-Amritsar Express, Howrah-Delhi Jn.- Kalka Mail, Sealdah-Delhi Jn. West Bengal SK Express,  Alipurdwar-Delhi Jn. Mahananda Sikkim Express,  Muzaffarpur-Delhi Jn. Sadbhawna Express, Sealdah-Delhi Lal Quila Express, Malda Town-Delhi Farakka Express, Dibrugarh-Delhi Brahamputra Mail,  Azamgarh-Delhi Kafiyat Express, Raxaul-Delhi Satyagrah Express,  Jammu Tawi-Delhi Shalimar Express, Howrah-Delhi Janata Express, Sealdah-Delhi West Bengal Sampark Kranti Express.

Some of trains were short terminated at Ghaziabad, Shahibabad, Shahdara, Hapur and Sarai Rohiall stations.