Imagine this. Your bags are packed, your ticket is confirmed, and tomorrow morning you are supposed to board a train from Vijayawada to Visakhapatnam. Then your phone buzzes: your train is cancelled. That is what thousands of passengers are facing tonight, because a very severe cyclone called Arnab is heading for the Andhra Pradesh coast. If your journey touches Andhra Pradesh, Odisha or the routes between them in the next two days, read this before you leave home. Everything below is correct as of the evening of Tuesday, 27 October 2026 — and details change fast, so check your own train before you travel.
What Cyclone Arnab is, and where it is going
Arnab is a very severe cyclonic storm over the Bay of Bengal. On Tuesday morning, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) placed it about 260 km southeast of Visakhapatnam, moving towards the coast at 20 to 25 kmph. It is expected to cross the Andhra Pradesh and Yanam coasts between Bapatla and Visakhapatnam, close to Yanam, by the forenoon of Wednesday, 28 October, with sustained winds of 115 to 125 kmph and gusts reaching 140 kmph. Extremely heavy rain is forecast at isolated places, with a storm surge of one to two metres near Kakinada and Yanam, which can flood low-lying areas.
Andhra Pradesh has readied 1,763 cyclone shelters, and nearly 50,000 people had already been moved out of vulnerable coastal areas by Monday night. Schools and colleges are shut in the coastal districts, fishing has been stopped, and orange and red alerts cover districts from Visakhapatnam to Bapatla, with neighbouring Odisha districts also on alert.
Which trains are cancelled
South Coast Railway has cancelled or suspended 53 train services that were to run on 27 and 28 October, according to News18 and India TV on Tuesday afternoon. These are mostly local and express services on the coastal sections of Andhra Pradesh — the Vijayawada, Guntur, Repalle, Rajahmundry, Kakinada and Visakhapatnam routes. Among them are seven MEMU passenger services in the Vijayawada–Guntur–Repalle section, including train 67247 from Narasapur to Guntur on 27 October and six more on 28 October, plus services between Visakhapatnam and Kakinada Port.
Further north, East Coast Railway has cancelled 12 trains and short-terminated two more in Odisha. Services on the Visakhapatnam–Kirandul and Rourkela–Jagdalpur routes are cancelled from 29 October to 4 November, the Howrah–Jagdalpur trains from 27 to 31 October, and the Bhubaneswar–Jagdalpur Express is running only up to Rayagada. Treat every number here as a snapshot, not a final list — zones are changing services as the storm moves, and early reports did not all agree on the total. Check your own train, as explained next.
How to check your train in two minutes
- NTES, the National Train Enquiry System: open enquiry.indianrail.gov.in or the NTES app, enter your train number or station, and check the live running status. This is the official source, and it updates as decisions are made.
- Your PNR: check it on the IRCTC website or app. The railways also send SMS alerts to the mobile number given at booking time.
- No internet? Call the railway enquiry helpline 139, or send an SMS saying PNR followed by your 10-digit PNR number to 139. Check first, before spending money reaching the station.
- At the station: look at the notice boards and listen to announcements. A 24-hour control room is monitoring the situation.
One small real example, the kind playing out in hundreds of homes tonight. A student in Guntur has a confirmed ticket home to Rajahmundry on Wednesday morning and a class on Thursday. Her train is one of the cancelled MEMU services. She does not need to reach the station at 5 am to find out. She checks NTES the night before, sees the cancellation, and saves herself a wasted trip. That is the whole point of checking first.
Will you get your money back?
Yes, and for online tickets you do not have to do anything. Under the official IRCTC refund rules, when the railway cancels a train, confirmed and RAC e-tickets get an automatic full refund, credited back to the account or card used for booking. You do not need to cancel online or file a TDR (Ticket Deposit Receipt). No cancellation charges apply, and this includes Tatkal tickets. Current guideline reporting puts the credit at three to seven business days, so do not panic if the money is not back the same evening.
If you bought your ticket at a counter, take the original ticket to any computerised reservation counter. Under the IRCTC rules, counter tickets for a cancelled train can be cancelled up to 72 hours after the scheduled departure, with a full refund. Keep the ticket safe — without it, the counter cannot help you. If your train is running more than three hours late and you choose not to travel, a full refund is also available, but for e-tickets you must file the TDR online before the train actually departs.
If you still have to travel
The honest advice is: postpone if you can. The railway advisory asks passengers to plan keeping the weather in mind, check SMS alerts, and confirm the train status before leaving home. If travel cannot wait, keep your phone charged, carry your ticket and ID, and the helpline numbers — 139 for enquiries and 182 for railway security emergencies. Stay away from the coast, flooded roads and fallen power lines, follow local officials, and do not believe forwarded messages about timings. One official update beats ten WhatsApp forwards.
Watch: Cyclone Arnab — Landfall, Trains Cancelled, Schools Shut
Watch the DNAIndiaNews video, “Cyclone Arnab: Landfall Likely Tomorrow At Andhra Coast; Trains Cancelled, Schools Shut | Odisha”, uploaded on 27 October 2026.
One last thought
A cancelled train feels personal. It ruins plans, costs a day, and leaves you refreshing a status page at midnight. But tonight, along the Andhra and Odisha coasts, a cancelled train means the system is putting safety first while a 140 kmph storm comes ashore. Check your train, claim the refund you are owed, and travel when the railway says it is safe. The tracks will still be there after the storm. Make sure you are too.
Source: India Meteorological Department forecasts and Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority updates as reported by The Indian Express, Republic World, DD India and Down To Earth on 27 October 2026; South Coast Railway and East Coast Railway cancellation announcements as reported by News18, India TV, NDTV Profit, Deccan Chronicle, The Hindu, Kalinga TV and Pragativadi on 26–27 October 2026; IRCTC Refund Rules (contents.irctc.co.in) for refund procedures; South Central Railway passenger advisory as reported by The Indian Express, 27 October 2026. All cyclone and cancellation details are as of the evening of 27 October 2026 and change quickly — re-check NTES or helpline 139 before travelling.
