COIMBATORE: Nearly 24 hour after derailment, train services between Pollachi and Palakkad resumed late on Wednesday.
Sources said that track repair has been completed at Vaalaikombu Nagoor around 7.30 pm on Wednesday, after the seven derailed bogies were reoved. The bogies along with generator van were sent to Pollachi yard. Loco pilots have been asked to operate at the accident spot at 10 km/ph speed.
As many as 100 workers were engaged in recovering the engine and bogies of a Tirunelveli-Pune special train that derailed near Pollachi late on Tuesday.
The train got derailed after a 200-year-old tree fell down on the railway track near Vaaliakombu Nagoor between Pollachi and Meenakshipuram stations around 9.50 pm on Tuesday. However, none of the passengers were injured.
The train was supposed to start from Tirunelveli on Monday night, but started only at 7.20 am on Tuesday. The train reached Pollachi at 9.35 pm and started plying to Palakkad. The incident happened around 9.50 pm on Tuesday.
According to railway sources, though the loco pilot had applied brakes after noticing the tree falling at a distance of 200 m, but he was unable to stop the train.
While half portion of the tree fell down on the engine, the remaining portion was still on the track. As a result, the train dragged the tree for more than 150 m and subsequently the train engine and the seven coaches went off the track.
When the incident happened, more than 300 passengers shouted for help. However no casualty was reported.
The tree is believed to have fallen after heavy winds struck the area. Subsequently, a crane and recovery ban from Shoranur in Kerala were brought to the place and recovery operations were commenced.
Similarly, an alternative engine was brought from Pollachi to take out the remaining 11 coaches that were on the track. The coaches were taken back to Palakkad through Pollachi, Palani, Dindigul, Karur, Erode and Coimbatore, from where they train left for Pune.