Suburban train service on the Sealdah South suburban section resumed around 10am on Friday after remaining suspended for 14 hours.

The first train to chug out of platform number 5 was the Sealdah-Sonarpur local.

Train services on the Sealdah South and between Sealdah and Hasnabad (North 24-Parganas) had been suspended from 8pm on Thursday as a preventive measure for
Cyclone Dana.

On Friday, passengers started trickling in from before 10am. By 10.30am, the buzz was back outside ticket counters as public address systems announced arrival and departure timings.

The Sealdah South suburban section connects Calcutta with pockets such as Diamond Harbour, Canning, Lakshmikantapur, Sonarpur, Baruipur and Budge Budge. It is the lifeline for hundreds of thousands of people who commute between the city and their homes every day, providing the city with a large part of its workforce.

“We feel paralysed without the train service,” said Suvendu Ghosh, a Sodepur resident who was travelling to Budge Budge to attend a funeral service on Friday.

From Howrah, 68 suburban trains were cancelled between 4am and 9.40am. Suburban train services between Bandel and Katwa, and Bandel and Howrah during the early morning hours were also suspended.

The services resumed later during the day.

The southeastern railway, overseeing train routes in Bengal, Odisha, and Jharkhand, cancelled more than 170 express and passenger trains scheduled between October 23 and 27.

“The morning peak hour rush was missing from both Howrah and Sealdah stations. The footfall was lesser than other days,” a senior railway official said.

While suburban train services resumed, ferries remained suspended on Friday.

Ferry services from Howrah connecting places like Sovabazar, Ahiritola, Armenian ghat, Chandpal ghat and Babughat remained suspended to prevent accidents because of choppy waters of the Hooghly, senior officials of the Hooghly Nadi Jalpath Paribahan Samity said.

“The service will resume on Saturday after an assessment of the weather condition,” a senior official of the Samity said.