Erosion of soil near railway tracks, caused by torrential rain overnight, between Maslandpur and Samhati stations in North 24-Parganas disrupted railway traffic for three hours on Friday.

The traffic was affected in the Sealdah-Bongaon section during rush hours on Friday morning.

A possible accident was averted as around 6.30am, some local residents alerted railway authorities to a void on the Bongaon-bound tracks after a train had travelled over the stretch.

Raju Poddar, a local resident, who was one of those who noticed the landslide, said: "Immediately after the train travelled through the affected stretch, I noticed that the track had bent abnormally. I went close to the spot and noticed that the soil that holds the tracks on the side had been eroded by incessant overnight rain. I, along with a few local residents, informed police and rail authorities in Maslandpur. We requested them to halt the movement of trains on the tracks."

Railway authorities rushed to the site and found that soil on a stretch of around three feet had eroded. After the authorities of Eastern Railways were informed, the movement of trains was controlled on the Up-line between Barasat and Bongaon. This inconvenienced passengers during morning rush hours and later railway authorities tried to continue services by running trains in both directions using the down line.

Four local trains had to be cancelled and two were short-terminated.

A spokesperson for Eastern Railway said: "Our crew rushed to the spot as early as possible and took minimum time to restore the landslide-hit area."

Later in the evening, train services between Sealdah and Ranaghat in Nadia suffered because of the inundation of tracks near Shyamnagar station.

Nearly all districts in south and north Bengal experienced rain on Friday. The incessant rain began on Thursday evening and Met office said it would continue for one more day.

Alipore weather office said the rain had been triggered by monsoon clouds passing through Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, Patna in Bihar, and Bankura and Digha in Bengal. The office said what added to the situation was a cyclonic circulation lying over north Bangladesh and its vicinity. A strong moisture incursion from the Bay of Bengal also enhanced rainfall activity.