Hundreds of passengers were left stranded after 12 coaches of the Thiruvananthapuram-Mangalore Express got derailed near Kochi in the wee hours on Sunday, reported PTI.
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The incident occurred near Karukutty at 2.15am. PK Mishra, additional general manager of the Southern Railway, told media that there was no evidence of sabotage activity at Karukutty and that a crack on the railway track might have caused the accident.
A possible major collision was also averted as the Chennai-Trivandrum train coming towards Ernakulam was stopped around 300 metres away from the accident spot following a timely alert, railway official said. It will take up to 10 hours to restore traffic in the sector, according to railway officials.
Earlier in the day, the authorities had arranged several special passenger trains between Ernakulam Junction and Thiruvananthapuram Central at frequent intervals for the affected passengers. Six long distance trains, including Kanyakumari-Mumbai CST Express, Thiruvananthapuram-Gorakhpur Rapthisagar Express, Kanyakumari-Begaluru Express and Thiruvananthapuram-New Delhi Kerala Express have been diverted via Tirunelveli, it said. Janshathabdi express, Venad Express will stop service at Ernakulam and Guruvayoor – Thiruvananthapuram Intercity express has been cancelled.
Following the incident, buses and local trains were arranged to ferry the stranded passengers to Kochi and Thrissur.
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