A barge ferrying sulphur to FACT got trapped beneath the Kaniampuzha railway bridge during early hours on Saturday after it rammed into the column base that lay hidden during high tide.
This in turn prompted Railway to impose a speed restriction of 30 kms per hour on trains to and from Kottayam, considerably delaying train movement in the sector. The Ernakulam Area Manager of Southern Railway Rajesh Chandran said that most trains suffered delay of over 10 minutes during peak hours due to the speed restriction. “We will assess damage to the bridge once the barge is removed from there,” he said, after visiting the site.
Apart from officials of the firm that operates the vessel, senior officials of Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) and FACT arrived at the site to devise means to extricate the wide barge from the bridge’s base. Sources said that the accident took place as the barge was cruising beneath the bridge and low tide set in.
The barge thus got entrapped beneath. A few other barges that operate in the corridor proceeded through the eastern side.
As on Saturday night, efforts were on to extricate the barge during high tide when water level rises. Attempts to tow it using other barges failed. The waterway beneath the bridge had witnessed a mock water rescue operation conducted by Southern Railway a month ago.
The incident could have been averted if the barge crew were better trained, sources said.
