Route Relay Interlocking (RRI) chamber at Itarsi railway station, will be back to normal from July 23.

Madhya Pradesh : Train movement to be normalised from July 23

The movement of trains, which have stayed paralysed over the last month due to a major fire at the Route Relay Interlocking (RRI) chamber at Itarsi railway station, will be back to normal from July 23.

Public relation officer (PRO), Bhopal rail division, IA Siddique said that restoration work of the siganalling system and points and switches system had been done and that tests were currently going on.

On June 17 morning, a major fire broke out at the RRI building at Itarsi railway junction -- one of the biggest railway junctions of the country -- damaging the entire signalling and route-changing points and the switches system, causing major train traffic chaos.

After the incident -- which is considered one of most significant fire mishaps in history of Indian railways -- authorities were forced to cancel and divert at least 70 to 80 trains on a daily basis.

Railway sources said the RRI system had been made operational on a trial basis and that it had been successful so far.

"As it is very sensitive system, several rounds of trial have been carried out and all were successful. Now the RRI system is ready to be operational," said a senior railway officer, requesting anonymity.

The officer further said that a total of 67 trains would be affected on July 20, and 58 on July 21. Only one train -- the Bareli-Indore Express -- will remain affected on July 22, said the officer.

Facts and figures

Fire broke out on June 17.

Railway authorities set up deadline to install the new RRI system within 36 days.

About 240-250 trains including goods and passenger trains pass through Itarsi railway station.

A total of 3200 trains have been cancelled, so far.

Around 50k ticket cancellation and refunds on daily basis

Expected revenue loss is about Rs 1,000 crore.

Trains' movement through Itarsi railway station will be normal on July 23