Panaji, July 10: Traffic on the Konkan Railway route was restored on Wednesday evening after an 18-hour-long disruption caused by waterlogging at Pernem tunnel near Goa.
Clearance for train traffic was given at 8.35 pm, the Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL) said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
The movement of trains on the coastal route was first suspended at 2.35 pm on Tuesday when it was noticed that water was oozing in the Pernem tunnel in the Madure-Pernem section amid heavy rains.
The waterlogging was cleared and traffic clearance was given at 10.13 pm on Tuesday night. But water again started seeping in the tunnel with a greater intensity at 2.59 am on Wednesday, forcing KRCL to suspend traffic, said its Deputy General Manager Baban Ghatge.
Some trains were cancelled while others were diverted, he said.
As per a bulletin issued by KRCL at 9 in the morning, train number 10104 Mandovi Express leaving towards Mumbai from Margao, train number 50108 Margao to Sawantwadi (Maharashtra), 22120 Margao to Mumbai Tejas Express, 12052 Margao to Mumbai Janashatabdi Express and 10106 Sawantwadi-Diva Express were cancelled.
The trains that were diverted included train number 19577 Tirunelveli -Jamnagar express, 16336 Nagarcoil-Gandhidham Express, 12283 Ernakulum-Hazrat Nizamuddin express and 16346 Thiruvananthapuram Central Lokmanya Tilak Express.
Hundreds of passengers were left stranded at various railway stations across Goa, including Margao, Canacona, Karmali, Thivim and Pernem.
The sudden cancellation led to chaotic scenes, particularly at Margao station in South Goa. A group of 200 travellers from Gujarat, including 60 senior citizens, found themselves stranded when the Goa Samparkranti Express was cancelled just two hours before departure.
"There is a group of 200 people with us, of which at least 60 are senior citizens. We were told two hours in advance that the train was cancelled. What should we do now?" questioned Abdul Walekar, a member of the group on tour to Goa.
Traffic on the Konkan Railway route has been restored after meticulous work by the KR team. TFC was issued at 20:35 hrs. @RailMinIndia
— Konkan Railway (@KonkanRailway) July 10, 2024
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Batumi (Georgia), Jul 26 (PTI): Young Indian International Master Divya Deshmukh held her nerves to hold stalwart Koneru Humpy to a draw in game 1 of the FIDE Women's World Cup final, with both players having their share of opportunities to take the lead here on Saturday.
The draw with black means Humpy, the two-time World Rapid champion, holds a slight edge going in the second and final game under the classical chess rules in the two-game mini-match, and should the deadlock continue, games of shorter duration will be played to determine the winner.
Humpy employed the Queen's gambit accepted as black and it turned out to be a pretty fascinating game right out of the opening as Divya, 19, came up with a piece sacrifice early to deny the black king the right to castle.
Humpy was the first to err and, according to computers, Divya had things under control on the 14th move. However in her bid to recover the extra material, the Nagpur girl, who has secured a place in the Candidates tournament with her sterling performance here, missed a promising continuation.
What followed the exchange of all minor pieces and the ensuing queen and rook endgame gave enough counter play to both players. The game was eventually drawn after Humpy sacrificed her rook to force perpetual checks.
"The game saw an extremely sharp battle with the game ending in a draw in 41 moves. On move 7, Divya made her aggressive intentions clear by offering another pawn,
which looked like home preparation. Humpy made a practical decision of refraining from taking the pawn and a balanced position was reached by move 10 by white," said Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay, an Arjuna awardee and the first Indian to get a chess Grandmaster norm.
"However, instead of developing the undeveloped Knight, Humpy retreated the centralised Knight on move 10, giving huge positional advantage to Divya. Divya could have gained huge positional advantage on the 12th move by moving a rook. However, she chose to play for King side attack by sacrificing a piece instead.
"Humpy, too, erred at this stage and instead of moving the King to Queen side, moved it to the King side. Divya, on move 14, could have obtained a crushing attack by threatening a mate by developing her Queen. Instead she chose to exchange a pair of Bishops first, which enabled Humpy to defend her King by returning the piece," said Thipsay.
"Players thus reached a balanced Queen and two Rooks ending. Divya continued to play ambitiously and tried to attack Humpy’s King but the latter defended accurately and the game was drawn in 41 moves by perpetual check," he added.
In the play-off for the third place, Chinese players Zhongyi Tan, the former women's world champion and top seed Lei Tingjie also decided to split points out of a Queen’s gambit declined game.
The opening raised visions of a close contest between the two but having been knocked out of title race in the previous round, none of them wanted to take any huge risk. It was still a middle game when the players shook hands.
With the top two positions sealed for the Indians, the berth to the next Candidates is also assigned, while the player finishing third will also get an entry to the premier event scheduled for 2026.
Results: Divya Deshmukh (Ind) drew with Koneru Humpy (Ind); Zhongyi Tan (Chn) drew with Tingjie Lei (Chn).