Fresh landslips on the Sakleshpur-Subrahmanya Road Ghat section of the Hassan-Mangaluru railway line forced Railways to extend the cancellation of train services between Bengaluru an Mangaluru to Wednesday too.
The Bengaluru-Kannur/Karwar-Bengaluru overnight services, which were operated via the diverted route of Salem and Palakkad too, were cancelled.
A communique from South Western Railway here said Train No 16575, Yeshwantpur-Mangaluru Junction tri-weekly express and Train No 16516, Karwar-Yeshwantpur tri-weekly express of Thursday are cancelled.
Wednesday’s Mangaluru Junction-Yeshwantpur tri-weekly express (16576) and Mangaluru Central-Yeshwantpur tri-weeky overnight express (16586) were already cancelled.
Divisional Railway Manager of South Western Railway’s Mysuru Division Aparna Garg, who is camping at the affected ghat stretch, said that the area, including a bridge location and another between Siribagilu and Subrahmanya Road, have witnessed fresh landslips since last night.
In view of rain and heavy wind, it is not safe to run trains till the weather becomes stable. She said that about 20,000 cum of earth came down between hill cuttings at km 90/900-91/000 off Siribagilu at 10.40 p.m. on Tuesday. Three earthmovers were working to clear the debris with workers braving heavy rain, slush and gusty winds.
Meanwhile, a release from Southern Railway said Train Nos 16511/16513 Bengaluru-Kannur/Karwar overnight express of Wednesday too was cancelled. Similarly, the service from Mangaluru, Train Nos 16512/16514, of Wednesday too stands cancelled, the release said.
The Bengaluru-Kannur-Karwar overnight express (16517/16523) via Mysuru of Tuesday was operated via Salem and Palakkad on the diverted route within Southern Railway zone. Service of 16523 was cancelled between Mangaluru and Karwar and 16514 was cancelled between Karwar and Mangaluru.
Though one expected these services to be operated on the diverted route following the closure of the ghat section, sources in Southern Railway said that the zone was facing difficulty in operating and accommodating extra trains. The situation was similar last August too when the Subrahmanya Road Ghat section was closed and Southern Railway declined to operate these trains on its network.
