Hundreds of tourists and passengers, travelling by the 08516 Visakhapatnam-Kirandul Special, were stranded at S. Kota station, following boulder fall from the hill slopes due to intermittent rains during the last two days, on the Kottavalasa – Kirandul line, on Friday morning.
The incident occurred between Chimidapalli and Borra Caves, around 5:00 a.m., resulting in damage to the Over Head Electrification (OHE) equipment. OHE cars from Araku and S. Kota reached the site. The special train, which reached S. Kota at 7:57 a.m., was controlled there, according to railway sources.
There were 800 passengers, more than 90 % of whom were tourists, going to Araku by this train. Initially, it was thought that only a few large stones had fallen on the track but one was a boulder, which was unlikely to be capable of being moved by a crane. The boulder has to be broken into pieces and removed and it could take at least four hours after the arrival of equipment.
At present only one coaching train (passenger train) is being operated on this route and the rest are goods trains. The railway officials would take a call on the operation of the train based on the clearing of the track. Apart from the tourist rush to Araku and passengers going to Kirandul in Chhattisgarh, the route is also important as goods trains move iron ore from the Bailadila mines to Visakhapatnam Port.
The goods trains, bringing iron ore, operate mostly in the night, in this section. About four to five empty goods rakes return from the Port during the mornings. There was no official information on short-termination of the train till around noon.
