Kochi: The railways acted swiftly in providing alternate transport arrangements for stranded passengers by deploying 65 private hired vehicles in various sections like Shornur-Kozhikode and operating six special train services post derailment. Within an hour of the accident, private vehicles on hire were deployed on the Karukutty-Chalakudy section. A special train started from Chalakudy to Mangalore at 7.05 am for facilitating further travel of over 700 passengers of the ill-fated Thiruvananthapuram-Mangalore Express that derailed just before the Karukutty station at 2.15 am.
“Two more special trains were operated in the Ernakulam-Thiruvananthapuram and Thiruvananthapuram-Ernakulam sections. The Palakkad division too chipped in by running two special trains in the Shornur-Kozhikode section,” a railway official said. The KSRTC operated most of its superfast services along the National Highway by touching the terminals like Ernakulam and Thrissur. “From Ernakulam railway station alone, we deployed 19 AC low-floor Volvo buses and 32 super fast and fast passenger services,” a senior KSRTC official said.
Meanwhile, the railways deployed newly acquired heavy machinery units for track repair that included the self-propelled accident relief train (SPART) from Ernakulam and a multi-functional crane from Shornur. “A total of seven ‘rail fractures’ were detected post the mishap. The track repair works were hastened by deploying the newly acquired heavy machinery and also by deploying over 400 workers. The down line was opened for traffic past midnight while the up line track repair works are expected to be over by Monday morning,” the official said.
