Cyclone Mandous: Suburban trains in Chennai may be cancelled, rescheduled today

All the passengers travelling on suburban trains in the region are advised to check their reservation status before the arrival of their journey.

In addition to railways, many air flights have also been impacted due to the cyclone. As of Saturday, the cyclone has weakened into a deep depression over Tamil Nadu coast.

To ensure safe train operations during cyclone Mandous, the Division Railway manager of Chennai Division, Ganesh, has instructed all the division railway staff including Branch officers and field officers to keep all the frontline staff on alert, stated ANI quoting the Southern Railway Chennai Division’s press release.

“Suburban trains may be cancelled/rescheduled if necessary to prevent untoward incidents, based on weather warning reports and prevailing situation.,” read the notice.

The railway division will operate in close coordination with the state Meteorological Department and adjoining Railway zones for better management of the situation

Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, and Andhra Pradesh on red alert

IMD has kept three states, ie Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, and Andhra Pradesh on red alert given the upcoming ‘Mandous Cyclone’. The weather forecasting agency has predicted the maximum wind speed to cross up to 85 kmph. The situation has been constantly monitored by Doppler Weather Radar Karaika.

The cyclonic storm will cross north Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, and adjoining south Andhra Pradesh coasts between Puducherry and Sriharikota till early mornings of Saturday. It will attain a speed of 65-75 kmph gusting to 85 kmph between Friday midnight and the early hours of Saturday. In the duration

In its official statement, IMD informed that the cyclonic storm ‘Mandous’, moved northwestwards with a speed of 14 kmph for six hours on Friday over the Southwest Bay of Bengal off north Tamil Nadu and Puducherry coasts. The cyclone movement occurred around about 350 km north of Trincomalee, Sri Lanka, 250 km north-northeast of Jaffna, Sri Lanka, 135 km southeast of Mamallapuram and about 170 km south-southeast of Chennai.

(With inputs from ANI)