Passengers stranded as boulders fall on Kirandul railway line

There were 800 passengers, more than 90 % of whom were tourists, going to Araku.

Hundreds of tourists and passengers, travelling by the 08516 Visakhapatnam-Kirandul Special, were stranded at S. Kota station, following boulder fall from the hill slopes due to intermittent rains during the last two days, on the Kottavalasa – Kirandul line, on Friday morning.

The incident occurred between Chimidapalli and Borra Caves, around 5:00 a.m., resulting in damage to the Over Head Electrification (OHE) equipment. OHE cars from Araku and S. Kota reached the site. The special train, which reached S. Kota at 7:57 a.m., was controlled there, according to railway sources.

There were 800 passengers, more than 90 % of whom were tourists, going to Araku by this train. Initially, it was thought that only a few large stones had fallen on the track but one was a boulder, which was unlikely to be capable of being moved by a crane. The boulder has to be broken into pieces and removed and it could take at least four hours after the arrival of equipment.