The Hindu : Front Page : NMR trial run on April 14

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Monday, Apr 05, 2010
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NMR trial run on April 14

D. Radhakrishnan

It is a World Heritage site declared by UNESCO in 2005Estimated cost of restoration put at Rs.12.45 crore

Photo: M. Sathyamoorthy

SETTING IT RIGHT: Workers engaged in repairing a bridge on the Nilgiri Mountain Railway below Coonoor. —

UDHAGAMANDALAM: The Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR) will be operated soon.

Service on the narrow gauge track was stopped after landslides triggered by heavy rains hit the Mettupalayam-Coonoor sector on November 8, 2009. It is a World Heritage site, declared by UNESCO in 2005.

The Southern Railway is getting ready for a trial run on the sector on April 14. Along with the local people for whom the NMR is a prized possession, tourists are also waiting eagerly for the resumption of services on the sector.

Services between Udhagamandalam and Coonoor resumed on January 5.

With the total estimated cost of restoration put at Rs.12.45 crore, the workers guided by senior officers of the Railways had to remove over 48,000 tonnes of soil from about 150 locations, rebuild two badly damaged bridges, construct a new bridge, strengthen two bridges, renew tracks over about 2 km, repair damaged rack bars at 50 places and put up retaining walls at three places apart from removing uprooted trees and setting right damaged pipelines, signals, electrical and telecommunication lines.

In re-railing the prestigious NMR, the Southern Railway had to contend with hostile terrain and weather, threat from wild animals and labour shortage, among other things.

Corrections and Clarifications

The second paragraph of a report "NMR trial run on April 14" (Chennai, April 5, 2010, page 1) incorrectly described it to be a service on a narrow gauge track. The Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR) operates on a metre-gauge (one metre width) track.

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