Thiruvananthapuram: Now that the heavy rainfall in Kerala has taken a small break, the authorities at the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) and the Railway haven begun restoring bus and train services in the affected regions. The train services which had shut down following the non-stop rainfall in Kerala, have been partially restored.
The train services in Kayankulam-Kottayam- Ernakulam and Palakkad-Shoranur-Kozhikkode sections have resumed operations and the Trivandrum- Ernakulam section was also connected by passenger Special Trains for the flood period.
Heavy damages that were caused by the floods in Aluva-Thrissur, Thrissur-Shoranur, Kayamkulam-Kottayam- Ernakulam Shoranur-Tirur, Shoranur- Palakkad routes have been fixed so that mobility is restored at least to a certain extent.
A few special trains were started via Trivandrum, Tirunelveli, and Madurai to Chennai, Egmore, Howarah, Gorakhpur, Bhubaneswar routes in order to evacuate those who were stranded.
Apart from the flood-affected areas, the Southern Railway had begun running 159 Express trains and 11 passenger trains connecting Kerala to the rest of the states from August 16-18.
The KSRTC employed lorries on NH 47 to transport commuters in the flooded areas of Kalamassery-Athani as the stretch is unsafe for other vehicles especially busses and small vehicles.
Some KSRTC buses also carried passengers along the Ernakulam-Kalamassery road and buses also awaited those who were being carried by lorries at Athani near Angamaly to ferry them to Thrissur and other parts of the northern districts.
There were about a dozen lorries that were used to ferry stranded people till late night along the Kalamassery-Athani stretch.
As many parts of Kottayam were submerged, the KSRTC had to operate services from Ernakulam via the MC Road.
With inputs from ANI
