Goa: Portion of Pernem rail tunnel caves in, trains diverted, no casualties

MARGAO: A 5m stretch of the lined wall inside the Pernem tunnel caved in in the wee hours of Thursday, paralysing train traffic along the Konkan Railway route.
The incident occurred between Madure and Pernem railway stations at 2.50am. A press note by Konkan Railway said that traffic in this section has been suspended till further advice, though no casualties or injuries were reported.
Deputy general manager, public relations, Baban Ghatge, said that restoration work was under way.
“Senior officials of the Konkan Railway are overseeing the work which is being undertaken on a war footing,” Ghatge said.
The 1.5km-long Pernem tunnel was built largely in soft soil strata.
“The collapsed portion of the tunnel lined wall lies 300m inside from the Mangalore end of the tunnel. The rainwater was gushing forth with such force that the portion of the wall cracked and gave way. The restoration work needs to proceed cautiously as there is a possibility of more cave-ins,” a railway official said.
Though KR sources had initially said that it could take at least 3-4 days for the track restoration work to be complete, a press bulletin issued by the Konkan Railway late Thursday said that several trains have been diverted along the SWR route via Londa up to August 18 or 20, thus indicating that the restoration work could take a longer time.
02617 Ernakulam-H Nizamuddin Superfast Special Express, 06346 Thiruvananthapuram Central-Lokmanya Tilak (T) Special Express, 02432 New Delhi-Thiruvananthapuram Central Rajdhani Special Express, 02618 H Nizamuddin-Ernakulam Superfast Special Express whose journey originated on Wednesday, and 06345 Lokmanya Tilak (T)-Thiruvananthapuram Central of Thursday were the trains that were diverted.
On Wednesday, a landslide occurred between Caranzol and Castlerock disrupting train movement along the SWR route.