Uprooting of huge trees onto railway tracks snapping high tension wires along the Thiruvananthapuram and Palakkad divisions is turning out to be a major safety concern for the Railways.
Train services were disrupted after 70 instances of trees or branches falling onto rail track or overhead 25 kV electric traction wires during the last six months. As many as 39 such incidents have been reported since April within the Palakkad Railway Division alone.
In the 31 instances in Thiruvananthapuram division during the past six months, there were 15 detentions. The delay and disruption in train services due to these incidents has adversely affected the punctuality of trains running in the State during the last few weeks after the onset of monsoon, railway officials said.
Shoranur-Nilambur and Shoranur-Kozhikode sections have been the most-affected stretches. As many as 14 incidents of tree-fall on tracks and disrupting train services have been reported from both the sections since June 1.
While Shoranur-Nilambur section recorded six such incidents, Shoranur-Kozhikode section reported eight cases.
Chances of commuters getting injured are high as the loco pilots will have to apply brakes to bring to halt the train all of a sudden on spotting a tree or trunk on the track.
Damage to overhead equipment (OHE) will also cost several lakhs to the Railways. In electrified sections, the Railways will have to depend on diesel locomotive if the repair of OHE takes time.
A senior railway official told The Hindu that they had removed all vulnerable trees on both sides of the track ahead of the monsoon.
The reluctance of those owning property near the tracks to cut trees leaning towards the tracks was the main hurdle now, he said.
