Hitchcock- type Birds halt trains & Cut Power in India

PATNA, India (Reuters) - Train services were disrupted in parts of eastern India for three hours after flocks of agitated crows snapped overhead power lines when railway workers tried to clear their nests, officials said on Monday.

They said crows and ravens often flapped their wings so hard while fighting that they tripped railway power lines in eastern Bihar state. To solve the problem, rail staff tried to clear nests built on overhead wires on Sunday. But this agitated the birds so much and they flapped their wings so furiously that it caused a short-circuit.

"Suddenly there was a short-circuit and overhead wires snapped, disturbing the power lines which also affected the signalling system", railway official Satyendra Kumar told Reuters. "We had to work for three hours to restore the power lines."

At least a dozen passenger trains were stranded while the nest clearing operation went on.

India's vast rail network carries more than 15 million people every day on some 7,000 passenger trains.

(Writing by Krittivas Mukherjee)