Kasaragod: The Malabar Express heading for Mangaluru had a narrow escape near Kanhangad on Friday morning after a trackman alerted the train driver of a crater formed beneath the tracks. The trackman used flares to warn the driver of the waiting danger.
The Thiruvananthapuram-Mangaluru Express and the Kannur-Mangaluru Passenger trains have been stranded en route while the railway’s engineering division is mending the track. Train traffic is expected to be back on track by the afternoon, authorities said.
The trackman noticed the dangerous dip in the ballast that holds the tracks in place at Chithari between Kanhangad and Kasaragod minutes before the Malabar Express was to pass the stretch around 7 am.
The ballast has been displaced by a meter under the tracks.
