Traffic came to a grinding halt for about 16 hours on Bangalore-Mangalore highway following a serial accident, on Thursday night.
An ore-laden lorry proceeding towards Mangalore collided head-on with another lorry coming from the opposite direction, near Doddathappale on National Highway-48.
Subsequently one more lorry rammed the ore-laden lorry from behind. As the three lorries blocked the busy highway, traffic came to standstill and vehicles queued up on either side of the accident spot. Though the rural police arrived at the spot it was impossible to clear the traffic without the help of a crane.
Stranded passengers were compelled to spend a night in the terrains of Shiradi ghat. Traffic was seen moving at a snail’s pace even on Friday evening.
Crossing crossfire
Passengers of Super Tipu Express train stopped Shathabi Express for over an hour condemning the delay in its arrival for crossing here on Friday.
The Tipu Express, which departures from Mysore at 11 am is scheduled to reach Bangalore at 1.15 pm. The train halts for over an hour near Maddur to allow crossing for Shatabdi Express.
However, passengers of the Tipu Express lost their cool as Shatabdi did not arrive for crossing even after two hours of waiting and a group of 500 passengers took the station master to task. Giving vent to their angst, they halted Shatabdi Express, which arrived belatedly, for over an hour.
CPI Shashidhar, PSI Prashanthbabu and ASI Gangadhar who arrived at the spot pacified the irate passengers assuring them that such delay would not occur in future.
The frenzy ans speed with which the mines lorries ply along the Shiradi roads n0wadys like a convoy really causes scare amongst other vehicle users. A total ban should be put on these mines lorries plying on this route before they completely damage the roads. Unfortunately Mangalore is promised a mono rail when the regular train service between Mangalore and Bangalore is restricted to a single night service.
