Boulders, slurry slide on to tracks; B’luru trains cancelled

Mangaluru: Incessant rain lashing Sakleshpur-Subrahmanya Ghat section since Thursday has disrupted train services on the Mangaluru-Bengaluru route with loose soil and boulders falling on the railway tracks.
According to sources, soil and boulders are coming down in the form of slurry, covering the tracks between Shirivagilu and Subrahmanya Road railway stations at kilometres 86/6-7. Efforts are also on to remove a massive boulder that fell on the tracks .
The staff of South Western Railway is working continuously in the hostile weather to clear the slurry and rocks near the tracks, sources said. To ensure safety of passengers, the SWR has decided to cancel/partially cancel/divert train services on July 20 and 21. Accordingly, trains 16575/76 Yeshwantpur- Mangaluru junction-Yeshwantpur Express on July 21 and 22 are cancelled.
Trains 16513/14 KSR Bengaluru-Karwar-KSR Bengaluru Express on June 20 and 21 are partially cancelled between Mangaluru Central to Karwar and Karwar to Mangaluru Central. Train 16511/16513 KSR Bengaluru to Kannur/Karwar Express starting on June 20 is diverted via Jolarpettai, Salem, Palakkad, Shoranur junction instead of via Shravanabelagola, Hassan, Sakleshpur and Mangaluru.
Train 16518/16524 Kannur/Karwar to KSR Bengaluru Express starting on June 20 is diverted via Shoranur junction, Palakkad, Salem, Jolarpettai instead of via Mangaluru, Sakleshpur, Hassan, Mysuru. This is the third such disruption in train services on the Mangaluru-Bengaluru route this monsoon and second such occasion when services have been disrupted due to the incident reported at kms 86/6-7 near the tunnel mouth.