The State public transport system, affected by floods and landslips, is back on top gear with Railways commencing services in the Ernakulam-Thrissur-Shoranur section and the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) plying buses to all routes, except Munnar. With Onam and Bakrid round the corner, there were huge crowds at bus stations and railway stations across the State.
Airport scene
The Thiruvananthapuram international airport, where air traffic has gone up to three times following the closure of the flooded Cochin international airport, operated 18 rescheduled flights in the international sector and nine in the domestic sector on Monday. This is in addition to the scheduled flights from the airport and aircraft movements of the defence wing.
In addition to Air India and Indian Express, flights of Saudi Arabian Airlines, Oman Air, Qatar Airways and Jet Airways, scheduled to operate from Kochi, took off from and landed here.
The opening of the naval airbase in Kochi to operate small aircraft will ease the pressure on the airport in the capital.
With Railways restoring traffic in the Ernakulam-Thrissur-Shoranur section in the morning, trains can run from Kasaragod in the north to Kanyakumari via Shoranur and Palakkad, Ernakulam, Alappuzha, Kottayam and Nagercoil Junction. The only rail corridor in the State that is still inoperative is the Punkunnam-Guruvayur route. Work is on to restore the track and commence service, a railway spokesman said.
Kollam-Shencottah
The newly opened Kollam-Shencottah broad gauge section under the Madurai railway division has also not been fully restored after a landslip. Trains now run up to Punalur.
In the Palakkad railway division, 90% of the service has been restored. Out of 91 mail and express trans handled daily in the Thiruvananthapuram railway division, 75 were restored on Monday. All services will be restored in two to three days, Divisional Railway Manager Shirish Kumar Sinha said.
The Thiruvananthapuram division had to cancel 32 trains and partially cancel seven trains on Monday. Train 19331 Kochuveli- Indore Weekly Express will operate as a passenger special from Mangaluru to Indore and 06021 Kochuveli-Chennai Central special fare special train was operated.
Depots cleaned
The KSRTC is planning to deploy the maximum number of buses for Onam. Buses damaged in the floods have been repaired and are now plying. Inundated depots have been cleaned. Buses now run up to Adimaly and the service to Munnar will commence soon, a KSRTC official said.
