Thiruvananthapuram, Oct. 22 -- A landslide near the Parassala railway station in this district derailed the locomotive of the Bilaspur-Tirunelveli Express early on Thursday, disrupting train services, with the Railways cancelling six passenger trains and partially cancelling two express services.
The incident occurred at 2.19 am when Train No 22619 Bilaspur-Tirunelveli Express was stopped near Parassala following the landslide. The locomotive was found derailed after the train stopped at the location, the railways said. "All passengers and railway staff are safe," the Southern Railway said in a statement. A relief locomotive was immediately arranged to move the train, while an accident relief train (ART), along with personnel and materials, was rushed to the site to carry out restoration work and resume train services, it said.
In its latest update, the Southern Railway said train services in the Neyyattinkara-Parassala section were restored by 8.10 am after railway personnel completed track restoration work. It said the derailed locomotive had been re-railed and removed from the site, and the track restoration work was successfully completed. Train services resumed after the necessary safety inspections.
The Kanniyakumari-Mangaluru Central Parasuram Express, which had been delayed following the incident, departed from Parassala and safely passed through the affected section, the railway said. Despite the restoration of train services, Southern Railway announced partial cancellations affecting two Amrit Bharat Express services on Thursday. Train No 16121 Tambaram-Thiruvananthapuram Central Amrit Bharat Express, which left Tambaram at 5.30 pm on Wednesday, was short-terminated at Nagercoil Town. Train No 16122 Thiruvananthapuram Central-Tambaram Amrit Bharat Express, scheduled to leave Thiruvananthapuram Central at 10.40 am on Thursday, will instead originate from Nagercoil Town at 11.47 am.
The service between Thiruvananthapuram Central and Nagercoil Town has been partially cancelled, the Railway said. Earlier, railway terminated the Bilaspur-Tirunelveli Express, which started its journey from Bilaspur on October 20, at Neyyattinkara. The section between Neyyattinkara and Tirunelveli was partially cancelled, and buses were arranged to transport passengers to their destinations.
Six passenger trains scheduled to operate on Thursday were fully cancelled due to restoration work near the Parassala railway station. The cancelled services are the Thiruvananthapuram North-Nagercoil Junction Passenger, the Nagercoil Junction-Kollam Junction Passenger, the Nagercoil Junction-Thiruvananthapuram North Passenger, the Kollam Junction-Nagercoil Junction Passenger and the Thiruvananthapuram North-Nagercoil Junction Passenger. The incident occurred amid spells of heavy rain in the region. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) had issued an orange alert for Thiruvananthapuram district on Wednesday, warning of very heavy rainfall, and a yellow alert for October 22 to October 25, forecasting heavy rain.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.