Nagpur: The automatic signaling system at Itarsi cabin may have been restored but the citizens can heave a sigh of relief only after two days. The train schedules can be brought to normal not before July 24. As per the information, 15 trains will remain cancelled on July 22 and another 11 trains to remain off track on July 23, as the train cycle will take few more hours to get fully in function.
Ending the deadlock for the last 34 days, the new Route Relay Interlocking (RRI) panel, started functioning on Tuesday. The panel was totally burnt due to a major fire incident causing severe disruption in the service. It was a mammoth task for installation of the new RRI system at Itarsi after the fire incident, said a senior Railway Ministry official. Itarsi, situated strategically in the central part of India linking North-South and East-West parts of the country through trains, is a crucial junction in Bhopal Division of West Central Railway. Itarsi station plays a key role for the train movement between Bombay-Bhopal, Bhopal-Nagpur and Bombay-Jabalpur-Allahabad route.
As per normal schedule, about 145 scheduled Mail Express and Passenger trains and 50-60 freight trains are dealt with at Itarsi station in both directions daily.
The destruction of RRI immediately resulted in much reduced running of only 35 trains per day though Itarsi through manual operation.
