Glitch at Central station puts hundreds to hardship

Train services to and from the city were delayed by over an hour-and-a-half on Monday on account of shunting ‘irregularities’ at Thiruvananthapuram Central station that put hundreds of people to hardship.

Intercity and long-distance trains, including the Jan Shatabdi Express, could not start from the Central station on schedule in the morning. Incoming trains to the capital city were held up at Pettah, Kochuveli, Murukkumpuzha, Kazhakuttam, and Kadakavoor railway stations, even as the authorities swung into action under the leadership of Divisional Railway Manager Rajesh Agrawal to restore the services.

Those who were returning to the city after the weekend, those going from here to Ernakulam and Kozhikode, and students and office-goers were the worst hit.

The Jan Shatabdi Express left the Central station at 7.10 a.m., after a delay of an hour and 10 minutes. The repercussions were felt in the operations for over five hours.

Three suspended

Mr. Agrawal said preliminary assessment into the shunting ‘irregularities’ by the Safety wing had found that laxity on the part of the station master, shunting master, and loco shunter had resulted in the disruption of the services.

The three had been suspended from service. Sources said ‘shunting irregularities’ took place when a rake was being taken to the shunting neck.

Two ‘points’ got damaged and it resulted in ‘trail thorough.’

The impact led to signal failure. (A point is a place on a track where the rails can be moved to allow a train to change from one track to another).

Mr. Agrawal but denied any signal or point failure.

The piling up of services happened as the shunting operations were done towards the Nagercoil side which had only a single line, he said.