Bus services to Kolkata resume

Vehicles move through a flooded stretch of NH31 at Gotlu, near Raiganj, on Thursday

TT, Aug. 17: Bus services between north Bengal and Calcutta have resumed after two highways were shut to traffic for four days because of floods.

The Northeast Frontier Railway today said it had initiated the restoration of tracks - connecting north Bengal and the Northeast with the rest of the country - damaged in the floods.

Mihir Goswami, the chairman of the North Bengal State Transport Corporation, said it was running as many as 34 buses from Calcutta to north Bengal and another 25 buses from different places of the region to Calcutta.

"We will also run 23 buses from Malda Town station to different locations of north Bengal so that people who are reaching Malda by train can reach their destinations," Goswami said in Cooch Behar today.

The bus services were hampered as several stretches of NH34 and NH31 were inundated. However, as some stretches of NH34 are still submerged between Raiganj and Malda, buses are taking a detour via Buniadpur, administrative sources said in Raiganj today.

An NFR official said the repair of the tracks had started on war footing.

"A bridge in the Katihar-Kumedpur section that was breached yesterday is being repaired now. The stretch is vital for the train connectivity between Katihar and Malda. If the flood situation does not deteriorate, the bridge is expected to be restored by tomorrow. Also, repair on another bridge between Sudhani and Telta that is in the New Jalpaiguri-Malda section has already started," the NFR official said this evening.

"The divisional railway manager of Katihar is camping at the spot and we could get several wagons of ballast unloaded at the place while boulders are on way."

According to him, the restoration of another bridge that was washed away by the Mahananda river has also started.

The bridge was located between Kumedpur and Kurial stations and in the Malda Town-NJP stretch.

The NFR has introduced another pair of trains between Dalkhola and Guwahati to help stranded passengers. While one train will leave Guwahati at 6pm and arrive in Dalkhola at 4.30am, another will leave Dalkhola at 6pm and reach Guwahati at 6.30am.

Till August 20, as many as 77 trains have been cancelled because of the floods and damage to the tracks.