MADURAI: The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) rescued 100 out of the 500 stranded passengers at the Srivaikuntam railway station in Thoothukudi district on Tuesday. Efforts to evacuate the remaining 400 passengers continue.
They waded through water (below knee level as water has receded) from the Station for about 3 kms to Velur( Tuticorin District). The buses are kept ready at Velur and they will be taken to Vanchi Maniyachchi Station from which a special train will take all the passengers to Chennai, he said.
The rescued passengers will be taken to Vanchi Maniyachchi Junction railway station by bus where a special train with 18 coaches has been arranged for them to reach Chennai. The station is 38 km away from Srivaikuntam.
A total of 800 passengers on the Chennai-bound Thiruchendur Express were stranded at Srivaikuntam railway station Sunday night after being marooned following heavy rains.
On Monday, a pregnant woman who was stranded in Srivaikuntam safely evacuated by chopper.
While 300 passengers were relocated to a relief centre at a nearby school at 1.30 am on Monday, the remaining 500 continued to be stuck on the train without food.
Attempts to airdrop food from an Indian Air Force helicopter were earlier unsuccessful due to adverse weather conditions and rain, officials said. Despite these challenges, residents managed to distribute food to about 100 passengers at the station.
On Tuesday at 10.15 am, NDRF and Railway Protection Force (RPF) officials reached Srivaikuntam and dropped packets of food by choppers to the affected passengers. Food was provided to the passengers stranded in relief centre as well with the help of villagers. Stranded children were served milk, sources added.
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Speaking to TNIE, Madurai Division of Southern Railway (MDSR) Public Relations Officer MK Gopinath said 13 buses for transporting the affected passengers were kept on standby at Velur bus depot in Thoothukudi. He further stated that a medical team and counsellors were also stationed at the bus depots in Srivaikuntam. Once the passengers reach the depots, the team would do a medical check-up and send them to their homes via the special train, he added.
A potential mishap was averted owing to a timely alert from railway staff.
The earthen formation and ballasts, constituting the track, were washed away at multiple locations throughout the 12.6 km stretch between Srivaikuntam and Seydunganallur in the Tiruchendur-Tirunelveli section due to strong water currents.
The train, which departed from Thiruchendur at 8.25 pm on Sunday, halted at Srivaikuntam at 9.19 pm after a railway employee observed that the track and concrete sleepers were hanging loosely, with rainwater flowing beneath them.
This prompted the railway authorities to suspend train traffic in the Srivaikuntam-Seydunganallur section.