Landslide leaves 150 passengers of Nilgiris Rail stranded

Landslide disrupted the service of the Nilgiris Mountain Rail (NMR) midway for about three hours on Saturday, forcing about 150 passengers to trek 5 kilometres to board buses for their onward journey.

The heritage NMR, which left here at around 2 PM, passed the Hillgrove station at 4.45 PM when huge boulders fell on the tracks, railway sources said. Since there was no possibility of clearing the tracks of the rocks immediately, the passengers were asked to alight, the sources said.

On receiving information, the railway sent three buses to pick up the stranded passengers who had to walk 5 kilometres to board the buses to Mettupalayam, they said.

Operations to clear debris have begun and the train service on Sunday stands cancelled, they added.