For the East Coast Railway, cyclone Phailin was a major challenge that it faced with timely preparations and groundwork which yielded appreciable outcome.
Being armed with IMD (Indian Meteorological Department) forecast and past experience of the 1999 super cyclone, the Railway became successful not only in achieving zero casualty but also ensuring early resumption of train services, which can be attributed to its planned approach to disaster management.
Having cancelled all passenger and express trains and having sanitized the route between Howrah and Visakhapatnam off all passenger rail traffic by October 12 noon, the Railway ensured that not a single passenger’s life was put to risk. Special teams with officers and field staff with necessary equipment had been pre-positioned at 25 identified locations likely to be hit by cyclone.
Tower cars and relief trains with a hundred plus generators, cables, signal equipment, debris-clearing equipment were positioned every five-six stations away. The morning after the cyclone, despite inclement weather, the pre-positioned teams started repair work at right earnest. By 2 pm, the route between Puri and Howrah and North India was cleared for running of express trains. By night, the track between Khurda Road and Palasa had been cleared for running of trains with diesel engines. The daunting task of removing hundreds of trees from tracks and overhead wires had been achieved without any delay.
To ensure safety and prevent overturning of trains due to high wind speed, all goods trains controlled in the affected section were secured properly with chains and handbrakes.
Again, train operations with electric engines were back on track by 10 am on October 14. However, due to absence of power supply at four sub-stations in Balugaon-Brahmapur section caused due to razing of the HT towers of Odisha Power Transmission Corporation ltd, Railways had to extend the electric supply from sub-stations at Kaipadar near Khordha and Baruvva near Palasa to ensure running of all south and Mumbai-bound trains.
To maintain coal supply to all of south India’s power houses where coal stocks had reached critical levels, many coal trains were diverted via Sambalpur-Vizianagaram route by diesel engine. Essential commodities like lPG, diesel were rushed to Khurda Road. Special trains to Howrah, Mumbai and Chennai helped to clear thousands of stranded passengers at Puri, Bhubaneswar, Visakhapatnam and other railway stations. Extra coaches were attached to regular trains to ensure that last minute passengers were accommodated.
Providing guidance to field staff in Khurda Road and Waltair Divisions were the Divisional Control Rooms at Khurda Road and Visakhapatnam. Gauging the public perceptions and demands through the field staff, inputs were provided to the media from time-to-time. A quick response to the calamity and restoration of train services provided relief to passengers and helped to instil confidence and trust in the nation’s lifeline.