Four empty coaches of Kanniyakumari-Howrah Express rake derailed while being shunted at Nagercoil station on Friday night.
Following this, the train was rescheduled to depart at 12 noon on Saturday instead of the scheduled departure of 7.50 a.m., Kanniyakumari-Mumbai Jayanthi Janata Express at 10 a.m. instead of 6.40 a.m. and Nagercoil-Coimbatore passenger at 2 p.m. instead of 7.15 a.m.
Chennai-bound Guruvayoor Express skipped Nagercoil Junction and was operated via Nagercoil Town station. The Kanniyakumari Express from Chennai arrived at 7.40 a.m. instead of 6.30 a.m. Similarly, Ananthapuri Express proceeding to Thiruvananthapuram also reached Nagercoil an hour behind schedule.
The derailed coaches were put back on the tracks by 4 a.m. on Saturday. Two cranes from Thiruvananthapuram were brought for the purpose.
Kanniyakumari District Rail Users Association president S.R. Sreeram said that lack of proper maintenance of tracks and inadequate ballast caused frequent derailments in this section.
As Kanniyakumari station lacked even basic facilities, rakes of all terminating trains were brought back to Nagercoil for maintenance. Kanniyakumari should be made a railway terminal with all facilities, including full-fledged watering, cleaning and other basic facilities for mechanical and electrical maintenance. If these facilites were there, many problems could be solved, Mr. Sreeram said.
