“Three days ago when we were clearing the track, water was gushing from the top. We were neck-deep in water while clearing the track in a tunnel,” said a railway gangman, who has been working in Sakleshpur station for the last 10 years.
“I have never witnessed such a critical situation in my career. Working amidst heavy rains and high-speed wind are near impossible. At times, within minutes of clearing the track at one point, there is one more landslip in the same place,” he said.
For the last two months, the railway staff in Sakleshpur have hardly had a break from work. Since June 11, when the rains started here, hundreds of landslips happened on the Western Ghats forcing the staff to rush to take up restoration work. Whenever a landslip is reported, the trains scheduled to travel on the track are either cancelled or delayed. In the last three days alone, 42 landslips have been reported in the region.
There are four stations — Donigal, Kadagarahavalli, Yedakumari and Sirivagilu — between Sakleshpur and Subrahmanya. About 25 km from Kadagaravalli and Siruvagilu is the problematic area, where a maximum number of landslips were reported.
“At least 100 workers are on the job every day in the recent days. We hire local workers for daily wages, besides our staff. But it has been very difficult to get workers too,” said an official.
Meanwhile, heavy rains continued in the Western Ghats making restoration of the track difficult. Among the landslips that happened in more than 40 places between Donigal and Sirivagilu stations, the staff have cleared only a few.
The special train meant for maintenance of the track left Sakleshpur station early morning on Saturday to take up restoration work. The staff, with the help of the workers, could clear rubble collected on the track near Donigal station. It is not clear how many more landslips have happened since Friday.
