Railway officials restoring the overhead electric line which had snapped from the tree fall.
| Photo Credit: R.K. Nithin
Hundreds of passengers in six trains were affected as rail traffic on the Ernakulam-Thrissur route was disrupted for about three hours from 10 a.m. on Sunday, after an uprooted tree fell on the rail tracks at Pachalam.
The trains were detained at different stations on both sides following the incident. The tree that fell on the tracks was cleared by 11.30 a.m. by Fire and Rescue Services personnel, while the damaged power lines were restored by 12.30 p.m. by Railway personnel. There was no damage to the tracks and trains began operating as per their normal schedule by 1 p.m., said Railway sources.
Railway and Fire and Rescue Services officials cutting a tree to remove it from the rail track at Pachalam on Sunday morning.
| Photo Credit:
R.K. Nithin
The tree was among those that the Railway had identified as unsafe on the corridor, and the plot owner had been informed of the same. In all probability, it would have uprooted in the rainy weather. As a norm, the Railway prunes or removes trees from its premises or in public spaces if they slant on to the tracks, but doing so with regard to trees in private lands is beyond its ambit. Branches or slanting portions can however be removed. For members of the public, there was the inherent risk of suffering electric shock in case such trees fell over the overhead lines atop railway tracks, said the sources.
The trains that were detained include Mangala Express, Sabari Express, Venad Express, Parasuram Express and Palakkad-Ernakulam MEMU. The uprooted tree also snapped power and telecom cables at the spot, it is learnt.
