A major portion of Ludhiana Junction railway station remained without electricity for nearly 18 hours after an excavation machine engaged in the station redevelopment project allegedly snapped underground power cables during late-night work.Officials said all offices located towards the Jalandhar side of the station were affected following the disruption. (HT File)The outage began around 1 am on Saturday in several sections of the railway station, including the Railway Protection Force (RPF) office, Government Railway Police (GRP) office, parcel office and the running room used by loco pilots between shifts.Power supply had not been restored till the filing of this report at 7 pm.Railway authorities said restoration work was underway, though train operations remained unaffected.“There has been no electricity since last night and it has affected our work. The heat is already unbearable these days. Fortunately, our CCTV system has nearly 16 hours of UPS backup,” said GRP station house officer inspector Jatinder Singh.According to railway officials, workers engaged in excavation work under the station redevelopment project accidentally damaged underground power lines while operating heavy machinery near the parcel office area.Officials said all offices located towards the Jalandhar side of the station were affected following the disruption.To minimise inconvenience, the railway administration arranged diesel generator backup for most of the affected offices until electricity supply could be restored.“Some time around 1 am, machines carrying out excavation work cut the underground power cables, leading to a power outage in a portion of the station near the parcel office area. Since these are underground wires, restoration is taking time. We have arranged DG sets to provide temporary backup to the affected offices,” said station director Aditya Mehra.He also dismissed speculation that theft of electrical wires had triggered the outage. “These are underground and extremely heavy cables. It is not possible to steal them,” he said.