Trains Cancelled/Diverted as Debris on Railway Tracks near Kulshekar need More Days to Clear
Mangaluru : Riding through the treacherous muddy road filled with bunch of huge potholes, walking up and down the bushy hillock, wading through the knee high water stranded along the railway tracks, I finally made it near to the spot near Suryanagara-Kulshekar, where the huge portion of landslide has completely buried the railway tracks for nearly quarter kilometer and it has been a herculean task for the railways crew to clear the debris, due to the rainy weather conditions- and if rains don’t stop, the work to completely clear the mess may take days, which the concerned railway persons near the site are very reluctant to tell. Therefore several trains have been diverted and few trains have been cancelled as debris is yet to be cleared.
A railway crew working on the site speaking to Team Mangalorean said that for the last few days they have been extra hours to finish the job, but with rains lashing every now and then has slowed down their work, and it has been a hectic time to continue with the work. It is learnt depending on the weather conditions, work is done after dawn and late night. Preetham, a resident of Suryangara, who escorted me to the spot said, “I have never seen such a massive landslide the whole time I lived here. This time the rains were heavy and that could be the reason for this disaster. I could hear a loud thud when the landslide occurred, and as the dogs started to bark I ran outside, to check what was going on, and to my surprise I saw a huge pile of mud landed on the railway tracks. Luckily no trains were passing by at that time, or it would have been a tragedy”.
With the Southern Railway continuing to clear the landslip-affected stretch near Kulshekar off Mangaluru, several passing through trains between the North and Kerala are cancelled, while two trains between Mangaluru and Mumbai are being operated out of Surathkal. The Mangaluru Central-Madgaon-Mangaluru Central Passenger as well as Intercity Express have been cancelled on Monday too, while the Madgaon-Mangaluru Central-Madgaon DEMU would be operated out of Thokkur.
Kishan Kumar, the Deputy Station Manager and Chief Ticket Inspector at the Railways Dept said “Konkan Railway Corporation has sent a bulletin stating that several through trains running via Mangaluru have been cancelled. They are: Train No 19261 Kochuveli-Porbandar Express; Train No 12977 Ernakulam-Ajmer Junction Marusagar Express; Train No 10215 Madgaon-Ernakulam Express, all commencing journey on August 25; Train No 10216 Ernakulam-Madgaon Express; Train No 16345 Mumbai LTT-Thiruvananthapuram Netravathi Express; Train No 19577 Tirunelveli-Jamnagar Express; Train No 22114 Kochuveli-Mumbai LTT Superfast Express and Train No 12217 Kochuveli-Chandigarh Kerala Sampark Kranthi Express of August 26.
“Some long-distance trains are diverted on alternative route via Jolarpettai, Palakkad and Shoranur. They are: Train No 12618 Hazrath Nizamuddin-Ernakulam Mangala Lakshadweep Express; Train No 12617 Ernakulam-Hazrath Nizamuddin Mangala Lakshadweep Express and Train No 16346 Thiruvananthapuram-Mumbai LTT Netravathi Express, all journey commencing on August 25. Southern Railway would operate two passenger special trains on Monday from Kerala to the North via Mangaluru on the Konkan Railway network. One special train left Kochuveli at 11 a.m. to Porbandar with stoppages of Train No 19261 Kochuveli-Porbandar Weekly Express. Another special train would leave Ernakulam to Ajmer at 8.25 p.m. with the timings and stoppages of Train No 12977 Ernakulam-Ajmer Marusagar Express, M.K. Gopinathan, Public Relations Officer of Palakkad Division” added Kumar.
In the meantime, travelers who had bought tickets and planned their trip to their destinations on trains via this troubled route have been facing lot of inconveniences- and among them is myself, who usually makes two or three trips to Margao-Goa, with trains passing this Kulshekar site. Fun and frolic spree of Viva Goa has been totally shattered for the moment. Oh well!