After sustained efforts, the railway engineers have achieved a major breakthrough in plugging the huge breach of earthen formation, under the track near Srivaikuntam on Tirunelveli-Tiruchendur section, which was washed away by gushing flood waters on the night of December 17.
Tracks have been restored near Thathankulam Railway Station on this stretch between Seydunganallur and Srivaikuntam railway stations where the breach had forced stranding of the Chennai-bound Chendur express with 800 passengers for three days at Srivaikuntam Railway Station after flood water turned it into an island.
“After the water receded, we found that the earthen bund, along with the ballast, under the tracks had been washed away for a length of 165 metres. The breach of bund of an irrigation tank in the vicinity resulted in the earthen formation under the track disappearing for a depth of 2.5 metres,” a railway engineer said.
After restoring the track between Tirunelveli and Seydunganallur within a couple of days, the engineers had to struggle to move heavy machinery and materials for restoration works as not only the tracks but also all road links had been washed away.
Railway men repaired the roads to move the materials. However, for the initial few days, water-logging kept the machinery away from the track. But, the round-the-clock hard work for 10 days by engineers from the Madurai Railway Division saw the bund ready by Sunday.
“We had to remove the dangling railway tracks to pack the bund with the help of heavy machinery, then relay the tracks and pack it with ballast,” an engineer said.
This has ensured that the railway ballast packing machine and rail lorries could move up to Srivaikuntam Railway Station and beyond.
Simultaneously, the engineers have completed the restoration works on two stretches of 40 metres and 400 metres between Srivaikuntam and Alwar Tirunagari railway stations.
However, the restoration of earthen bund for 120 metres between Alwar Tirunagari and Nazareth railway stations is still in progress. “Access to this spot remained difficult for us for many days. We could not work here during nights as local villagers objected to the movement of heavy vehicles through their area in the nights,” he added.
Besides, a flash road roko in Thoothukudi district following a murder on Sunday also disrupted the work.
Railway engineers are planning to restore the tracks for 61 km up to Tiruchendur by January 5 to help resumption of rail services at the earliest.
