THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Twelve coaches of Malabar Express towards Mangalore were derailed at Karukutty, near Aluva on the wee hours of Sunday.
Latest update: The railway is carrying out the operations to remove the derailed tracks of Trivandrum-Mangalore Express off the tracks. If the 12 bogies that are derailed, 7 bogies have already been removed by 5 pm. Two cranes of the railway are on the job. The railway officials are hopeful that the bogies can be removed in another two hours and rail traffic resumed before midnight. However, many passengers say that rail officials at the station say that the trains for tomorrow are cancelled. |
All passengers were safe and they were taken to Thrissur by bus, said Railways. The incident happened at 2.30 am between Angamaly and Iringalakuda. Fissures on the track is said to be reason and officials said a high level inquiry would be conduxted.
Train service to this route has been disrupted it would take at least eight hours to clear it. Some of the trains in this route have either stopped its service at Ernakulam or cancelled. Janshathabdi express, Venad Express will stop service at Ernakulam and Guruvayoor - Thiruvananthapuram Intercity express has been cancelled.
A Railway official said major collision was averted as the Chennai-Trivandrum train coming towards Ernakulam was stopped on time. "We alerted the incoming train and it was stopped about 300 metres away. This was an achievement of the railways safety measures," the official said.
But the derailment threw rail traffic on Ernakulam-Thrissur route out of gear with 21 trains being cancelled. Several others were terminated at Ernakulam and some long distance trains rescheduled.
Trains that departed on Saturday night such as Amrita Express, Nilambur Rajyarani Express, Egmore - Guruvayoor Express stopped the journey at Ernakulam.
Five long distance trains diverted via Tirunelveli-Erode route, 16382 Thiruvananthapuram-Mumbai, 16525 Kanyakumari- Bangalore, 13353 Alappuzha-Dhanbad, 12512 Thiruvananthapuram-Gorakhpur Raptisagar,17229 Thiruvananthapuram-Hyderabad sabari express.
Railways said that passengers can ask for refunds for their incomplete trip. Those who made online booking will get automatic refund.
Following the incident, buses and local trains were arranged to ferry the stranded passengers to Kochi and Thrissur. Traffic on both the lines of the route is affected due to the derailment and six to 10 hours are expected to complete the repair works of the damaged tracks on Ernakulam-Thrissur route, he said.
Rail traffic towards Ernakulam was expected to be restored by 6 PM today and on the Thrissur route by tomorrow morning, Mishra said. Railway officials from the state capital and elsewhere are overseeing the relief and rescue operations.
On the mishap, Mishra said it could be due to defect in track or in the coaches. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said Railways have arranged special trains and buses for transporting stranded passengers, adding it was suspected that there was some defect in the track.
Ramachandran, a ticket examiner, said he heard a loud noise at the time of the derailment and passengers panicked. It was raining heavily when the incident occurred, he said.
Some local trains connecting major stations of Kerala have been cancelled because of the derailment.
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(With inputs from PTI)