Jamshedpur, Sept. 25: Although Lalu Prasad continues to get laurels for scripting the railway turnaround story, heavy rains as well as certain “experiments” rob some sheen from Indian Railways.

Movement of trains between Howrah and Tatanagar sections of the South Eastern Railway (SER) was affected for the third consecutive day today due to waterlogged tracks. Passenger trains including the Janshatabdi Express and Ispat Express were terminated at Santragachi due to waterlogged tracks at Howrah. Incessant downpour during the last two days in Bengal played havoc with train traffic, as vast stretches of tracks were submerged.

Steel Express left Tatanagar for Howrah at 9.15am, about three hours behind schedule. Passengers were told the train would be terminated at Kharagpur. They were asked to board the Geetanjali Express, which was later terminated at Santragachi instead of Howrah. On its return journey, the Steel Express ran between Kharagpur and Tatanagar.

The Ispat Express started from the Santragachi station instead of Howrah, reaching Tatanagar at 2.10pm, over three-and-half hours behind its schedule. The Howrah-Ahmedabad Express was cancelled today, while other long-distance trains, including Howrah-Koraput Express and Howrah-Hatia Express, left Santragachi railway station about three hours behind its scheduled departure.

Meanwhile, passengers also faced cancellation of tickets due to delays. The disruption in railway service resulted in a huge revenue loss, said officials at Garden Reach, headquarters of the South Eastern Railway, adding that the situation was likely to improve from tomorrow.

Elsewhere, express trains like Howrah-Barbil Janshatabdi are being detained at various railway stations as long goods trains (with bogies of two goods train attached) are running under the Chakradharpur division for the past two months. The passengers’ trains like Tata Barbil Passenger, Tata-Gua Passenger, among others, are also reported to be running late due to this reason for the past two weeks.

A goods train with 116 bogies (58 bogies each of two trains) is running between Adityapur and Barajamda following a directive from the operating department of the SER on an experimental basis. Acting area railway manager (Tatanagar), T.K. Bhattacharya, said: “The idea is to save time as well as consumption of electricity when the bogies are empty. When iron ore is loaded at West Singhbhum, the trains are separated as a single locomotive will not be able to pull so many bogies.”

However, on the flip side, sources at Chaibasa railway station (West Singhbhum) said that due to the running of such long goods trains, other trains are delayed. “We have to clear traffic of two railway stations in advance and detain the local passengers at the station,” a senior railway official said, requesting anonymity.

He said that each railway station can accommodate coaches of one goods train. “But no station is big enough to accommodate the bogies of two goods trains,” he added.