Rail traffic on Ernakulam-Shoranur route disrupted

November 22, 2016 08:48 pm | Updated 08:48 pm IST - KOCHI:

Rail traffic on the Ernakulam-Shoranur route was disrupted from Tuesday morning till noon after attempts to remove an AC coach of a train that derailed near Karukutty in August encountered unexpected delay.

There was already speed restriction in vogue at Angamaly for track replacement. The attempts to remove the coach of Trivandrum-Mangalore Express that derailed and fell on the Ernakulam-Thrissur ‘uptrack’ began early on Tuesday morning.

The Railway’s mechanical wing was to complete the work in three hours, by 6.30 a.m. But it went on to 9 a.m. The damaged coach was towed to Angamaly using a light engine, from where it will be brought to Ernakulam. Commuters were caught unawares by trains encountering unexpected delay.

Thiruvananthapuram Divisional Railway Manager Prakash Bhutani said there was a judgemental error by the mechanical wing about the complexities involved in salvaging the coach. “They did not correctly assess the time required for the purpose. Simultaneously, ballast-cleaning work was going on in between Angamaly and Chalakudy. The two factors led to numerous trains being detained at stations,” he said.

Ballast-cleaning work will be taken up in the ‘down track’ (Angamaly-Ernakulam track) in another fortnight. Salvaging of five derailed coaches that are lying in the down track too will be taken up shortly.

The trains that suffered delay of up to five hours on Tuesday included Trivandrum-Palakkad Amrita Express, Chennai-Guruvayur Express and Kochuveli-Nizamuddin special train. Attempts by a section of season ticket holders to travel in a Sabarimala special train led to further confusion as passengers stopped the train by pulling the chain. Normal rail traffic was restored only by noon.

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