Cyclone Arnab’s wind made the headlines, but its transport toll will be felt for days after the storm has weakened. Railways cancelled or rescheduled more than 90 services across October 27 to 29 on East Coast and South Coast routes serving Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Odisha junctions, while flights were disrupted at Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Rajahmundry, with Delhi to Bhogapuram services cancelled for the day. For travellers, students and workers along India’s east coast, the storm was not just a weather event. It was a week of cancelled plans, missed connections and uncertain refunds.
The scale of disruption reflects the storm’s track and timing. Arnab crossed the Andhra Pradesh and Yanam coasts between Bapatla and Visakhapatnam from 0200 IST to 0800 IST on October 28, with sustained winds of 125 to 135 kilometres per hour and gusts to 150, and a storm surge of 1.5 to 2.5 metres expected to inundate low lying areas. Twelve trains were cancelled in one early tally, with services on 53 rail routes along the southern coast suspended, while a broader count put cancellations and rescheduling above 90 services across the three day window. The difference reflects different counting points, but the practical message is the same: check live status before travelling, because schedules changed faster than timetables could be printed.
Flights, refunds and the return to normal
Air travel faced a similar pattern. The Civil Aviation Ministry reviewed readiness and confirmed targeted suspensions and cancellations, with Delhi to Bhogapuram services cancelled for the day and several Delhi to Visakhapatnam and Delhi to Vijayawada flights affected. Passengers were advised to check flight status through airline apps and to seek rebooking or waivers, while rail passengers were directed to live enquiry systems and to deposit receipt rules for cancellations and short terminations. Those procedures matter, because a cancelled train or flight is not just an inconvenience when it carries a student to an exam, a worker to a shift, or a family to a shelter.
Restoring transport is also part of relief. Tracks must be inspected after flooding and fallen trees, airports must confirm safe operations, and services must be reintroduced in an order that matches demand rather than simply resuming the old timetable. By 1130 IST on Wednesday, Arnab had weakened to a severe cyclonic storm with winds of 100 to 110 kilometres per hour, and was expected to weaken further within hours, yet heavy rain warnings continued inland to Telangana and Jharkhand, which means transport recovery will be phased, not instant.
Travel advice that still applies
Reports of the landfall recorded the wind speeds and the surge warning, and Express News Bulletin’s account of the relief machine described the shelters behind the evacuation. For travellers, the advice remains simple and unchanged: confirm schedules before leaving home, expect rescheduling even after the wind drops, and keep refund and rebooking options in hand until services are confirmed as running normally, not just announced as resuming.
