The Berhampur railway station suffered a major loss in the cyclone. Pictures by Gopal Krishna Reddy

Bhubaneswar, Oct. 22: Authorities of the East Coast Railway have expedited restoration of infrastructure at various railway stations, which were affected by Phailin.

Though the exact loss due to the cyclone is yet to be ascertained, sources in the railway pegged it around Rs 120 crore. This includes revenue loss due to cancellation of several goods and passenger trains and damage to the infrastructure. While the freight operations remained stopped for 72 hours, the passenger service, too, was closed for more than 24 hours.

Phailin had led to uprooting of a number of signal posts, besides damaging overhead equipment at several places. Similarly, foot overbridges and platform shelters at many stations, including Brahmapur, Ganjam, Balugaon, Mancheswar and Khurda Road, were either blown off or damaged.

However, the railway officials gave credit to the crisis management group consisting of key officials of various departments for quick restoration of train services.

“Special teams, consisting of officers and field staff members, with essential equipment were positioned at 25 identified locations anticipated to be hit hard by the cyclone. Tower cars and relief trains with more than 100 generators, cables, and signal equipment were pressed into action,” said the railway’s chief public relation officer J.P. Mishra.

An official also said the loss caused due to Phailin was less than the damaged caused by the 1999 supercyclone. That time, the storm had washed away tracks in Balasore and Paradip, apart from causing major damage to a number of stations across the state.

Railway officials had also made arrangements to accommodate stranded passengers. More than 20,000 passengers were stranded at various stations, including 10,000 passengers at Bhubaneswar and Puri stations.

“The railway had seen the devastation of the 1999 supercyclone. But this time, the planned approach to disaster management not only led to zero casualty, but also helped us resume the service at the earliest,” said Mishra.