Damage beneath railway tracks on Tirunelveli-Tiruchendur section found to be extensive following floods

Railway officials and workers struggle to restore tracks in Tirunelveli-Tiruchendur section after torrential rains cause extensive damage.

Damage to the earth and ballasts beneath the railway tracks between Srivaikuntam and Nazareth railway stations in the Tirunelveli-Tiruchendur section has been found to be extensive. The earthen bund has been washed away across a depth of over 20 feet. The damage was sutained during the torrential rains that lashed the southern T.N. districts last week.

Even as restoration work is ongoing, railway officials and workers are not able to reach the tracks in some parts of the affected areas despite the water level having receded over the past four days.

Engineers have now restored rail movement on a 16 km stretch between Tirunelveli and Seydunganallur railway stations. As materials meant for the restoration could not be moved by rail beyond Seydunganallur however, officials have opted to move them by road. “Since roads too, have been washed away at many spots, even these attempts are very challenging. We are now preparing to repair the roads to move the materials closer to the tracks,” said a senior railway engineer.

In some of the spots, officials and workers are not able to reach the tracks due to slushy soil for about 100 metres along the tracks.

Earth and ballast below the tracks have vanished for one km between Srivaikuntam and Nazareth. “At one particular stretch alone the earthen bund has been washed away for 400 metres,” the railway official saod.

In most parts of these affected areas, the entire bund that had been laid by the railways over the natural ground level has vanished. “The depth of the soil eroded is between 3 to 7 metres. The depth of the soil washed away at one particular spot is equivalent to the height of two floors of a building,” the official added.

Flood water that gushed for more than two days easily breached the bund over which the tracks were laid. The tracks themselves however, held together by the concrete sleepers, are intact, and dangling over the ground.