In one of the biggest track restoration works, South Western Railway (SWR) has cleared 64 of the 65 landslips that occurred in August on the Sakleshpur-Subrahmanya Road ghat section. The section is accessible only through the existing line.
While SWR has re-routed or cancelled trains on the Bengaluru-Mangaluru sector since August 15, resumption of services is unlikely any time soon as it has encountered a major landslip near Siribagilu railway station, just after tunnel no. 48.
Even as the SWR’s Mysuru division had cleared about 14,000 cubic metres (CuM) of debris that fell on August 14-15, fresh landslips brought in about 70,000 CuM of debris on September 20, aggravating the situation. At least a fortnight’s work is needed now to clear the massive debris, piled up as high as 25 metres, over a length of 200 metres, on this stretch.
Mysuru Divisional Railway Manager Aparna Garg, who visited the affected areas with a media team on Saturday, said she was not sure the debris could be cleared by this month-end. She said train services may resume only by the end of October.
Immediately after reports of landslips came out, SWR deployed men and earthmovers to clear them, transporting debris on flat wagons as the stretch was inaccessible by road from Sakleshpur, atop the Western Ghats, and from Subrahmanya Road, beneath the ghat.
“We had to clear the landslips one by one and move further. There were times when we got stuck in between landslips as fresh ones occurred just after we had cleared one and moved on. Clearing landslips between two tunnels and close to the bridges was a major challenge as earthmovers couldn’t be deployed easily,” said Ravindra Biradar, senior divisional engineer (west), Mysuru.
There was erosion of embankment too on the right side of the track, for a length of about 25 metres, along with a minor bridge. A huge hillock with soft soil and boulders (about 30,000 CuM of debris) fell on the track between August 14 and 19. The embankment had to be built from a depth of about 30 metres using sandbags and stones, said Anand Bharti, senior divisional engineer (coordination), Mysuru.
Precautionary measures
A consultant, who conducted a survey of landslip-affected areas, has recommended that the SWR execute several works over two years to prevent further damage. The works include construction of mono-oriented geo-composite steel grid and diagonal rope with surface anchors to secure debris; recovery of overburden by blasting and other measures; rock bolting; gabion walls; RCC retaining walls; and flattening of slopes at vulnerable locations, said Ms. Garg.
₹4 lakh revenue loss
Meanwhile, SWR is losing ₹4 lakh revenue a day following the cancellation of passenger train services alone on the Bengaluru-Mangaluru sector.
“We are unable to quantify losses on account of diversion of goods traffic,” said Mysuru Divisional Railway Manager Aparna Garg. Restoration works costing about ₹2 crore have been completed, and the amount spent will only go up after clearing the major landslip at Siribagilu, she said