BHUBANESWAR: Heavy rain due to low pressure area formed over the sea has affected rail and road communication at different parts of the state. Hirakhand Express train on Saturday got stuck after rail tracks were flooded with rain water near Bhalumaska station in Rayagada district The train connecting Bhubaneswar to Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh was on its way to Jagdalpur. After it crossed Rayagada station, it faced flooding of track before the Bhalumaska station. The rail line was looking like a water canal. It had to stop there till the water recedes.The train was controlled at Bhalumaska at 8.30 am. After the condition of rail line improved, it left the station at 11.30 am and arrived at Koraput at 3.57 pm. The train was delayed by six and a half hours, East Coast Railway (ECoR) sources said.Between Khurda Road and Bhubaneswar section, track was flooded near Retang railway station on the outskirts of the city. Water was touching the demarcated mark on a small bridge near Retang station. “So that two of the three lines between Khurda Road and Bhubaneswar were suspended since 12.45 pm. Trains are running on the up line, which has not been affected. Situation is under watch,” said ECoR chief spokesperson J P Mishra.In view of track flooding near Retang station and waterlogging at Khurda Road station, Bhubaneswar station and Puri station yard, the ECoR has controlled 42 trains at different places of its zone. Due to this, these trains were delayed between one and two hours. It has cancelled five Rath Yatra trains and three local passenger trains in Puri-Cuttack and Nayagarh-Khurda routes. The zone has also partially cancelled 10 trains keeping the flooded tracks in mind.Many private buses remained off the road due to rain in the state. According to Debendra Sahu, general secretary of the Odisha Private Bus Owners’ Association, bus services were suspended to Malkangiri on Saturday after Pangam bridge before the town got affected due to heavy rain.Bus services to Phulbani and Boudh were affected after flood water inundated a road near Dasapalla in Nayagarh district, he added.

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