Lockdown: Visakhapatnam gas leak affects movement of at least 9 Shramik Special trains

The gas leak incident in Andhra Pradesh's Visakhapatnam on Thursday has affected movement of trains from the Simhachalam North railway station, including at least nine Shramik Special Trains ferrying stranded migrant workers to their home states, the railways said.

Eleven people have died and 1,000 others exposed to styrene vapour that leaked from a chemical plant in Vishakhapatnam in the early hours of Thursday and quickly spread to villages in a five-kilometre radius.

Staff at the Simhachalam north railway station, which is near the chemical plant LG Polymers started feeling suffocated and burning sensation in the eyes soon after the leak.

Follow live updates on the Vizag gas leak tragedy here.

Trains crossing the railway station stopped from 8:35 am to 12 noon. This affected movement of a number of trains, including 24 goods trains in 'Up' direction and 12 trains in the 'Down' direction.

In railway parlance, 'Up' refers a train travelling towards its base, and a 'down' to a train travelling away from its base.

Shramik Special trains which have been affected include the Abu Road-Visakhpatnam migrant special. Other Shramik Special rakes, controlled by the Visakhapatnam-headquartered Waltair division, whose movement have been affected are Darbhanga-Thrissur, Hatia -Eranakulam, Saharsa-Chintakunta, Palakkad-Jagannathpur.

Also read: Vizag gas leak: Chilling scenes bring back memories of Bhopal gas tragedy

Some Shramik Special Trains have also been diverted via Vijayawada Railway station and Balharshah Railway Station. These include Ghatkesar-Katihar, Katpadi-Hatia, Lingampalli-Bhagalpur and Kozhikode-Katihar migrant specials.