NMR Engine Breakdown

The Nilgiri passenger train at Udhagamandalam station. Close to 200 passengers, including foreign tourists, bound for Coonoor and Udhagamandalam were stranded in the middle of a jungle between Kallar and Hillgrove stations on Sunday when the engine of the Nilgiri Mountain Railway’s (NMR) morning service suffered a breakdown. Aggrieved passengers told The Hindu over phone from the spot where they were stranded that the train left Mettupalayam at 7 a.m. It came to a halt around 8 a.m. after it crossed the Kallar station.

Then began the six-hour ordeal for passengers. “We are here since 8 a.m. and cannot move from this spot looking for alternative transport, because this is a jungle,” said an anguished R. Kannan of Thanjavur. President of the Medical Representatives Association of Thanjavur, he was going to Udhagamandalam to attend a conference. “They said a replacement engine would be sent.But, there is no sign of it,” he said around 12.45 p.m. A railway official at the Mettupalayam station said later that another engine was sent from Mettupalayam and the NMR service left for Udhagamandalam at 2.20 p.m. The faulty engine and the rakes were brought back to Kallar and the service left again for Udhagamandalam with the new engine.

“It is very annoying,” Lyeke, a woman tourist from Holland, said during the wait at the breakdown spot. Ms. Lyeke and her friends wanted to travel by a train of the NMR that had the World Heritage Site status. But, the problem on Sunday turned her trip into a frustrating one.“Women and children are here for hours without even water,” said Chaya. Heading for Coonoor where her family runs a business, she was among the passengers who did not dare venture into the jungles in search of a road.

“We have no courage to do that as there may be bears and elephants in the jungles through which the NMR line passes,” said Mr. Kannan. “The only access back to the Kallar station is a bridge that is located across a 500-ft gorge. And, we have no courage to walk on that,” he said.“The trouble was that instead of rushing the replacement, repairs to the problem-hit engine were attempted,” he said. “The authorities should ensure there is no trouble with the NMR service. The passengers are put to peril. Only about a month ago, some railway workers were killed when their trolley’s brake failed,” he recalled.

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