The Hindu : Karnataka News : Railway official blames bad drainage for landslips

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Karnataka

Railway official blames bad drainage for landslips

Staff Correspondent

Landslips paralyse rail traffic for four days
14,769 passengers ferried between Surathkal and Mangalore Central

MANGALORE: The landslips along the Thokur-Padil lines of the Southern and Konkan Railways, that paralysed traffic for nearly four days, might not be solely owing to natural causes, Palakkad Divisional Railway Manager S.K. Raina has said even as normal operations resumed on Wednesday.

Blaming “bad drainage system”, which is maintained by the Mangalore City Corporation, Mr. Raina said the civic authorities had made no attempt to prevent water from draining onto the railway tracks.

The seepage of sewage and storm water had weakened the retaining walls and the steep cuttings that lead to the tracks, he told The Hindu on Wednesday.

Fury of nature

However, he hastened to add that areas where the railways had resorted to steep cutting were vulnerable to the fury of nature.

“Until the monsoons pass, we must keep our fingers crossed,” he said.

Pointing out that the Thokur-Padil line had been in use for the last 46 years, he said that landslips seen over the last five days were the worst. He said that the railways would start reinforcing the cuttings as soon as the monsoon abates.

Reacting to Mr. Raina's contention, Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada V. Ponnuraj did not rule out manmade causes but stressed that the district administration could take action only if it received a formal communiqué from the railways.

However, senior officials in the district administration, who did not wish to be quoted, cast aspersions on the manner in which the railways had gone about digging steep trenches to accommodate tracks.

“The angle at which the cuttings have been undertaken make the structure unstable,” said an official.

Line cleared

Meanwhile, an official release from the Palakkad divisional headquarters said that the latest landslip on the Thokur-Padil line was cleared at 6 a.m. on Wednesday.

An official said that in the last four days 14,769 passengers had been ferried between Surathkal and Mangalore Central. Over 250 buses were hired for the purpose.

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