A pre-dawn landslide on the Neyyattinkara–Parassala railway section in southern Kerala derailed the locomotive of the Bilaspur–Tirunelveli Express on Thursday after crews stopped the train ahead of debris on the track, Southern Railway officials said. No passengers or staff were reported injured.
The slide hit near kilometre 249 close to Parassala station at about 2:19 a.m., according to railway public relations officers quoted by UNI and PTI. Train 22619 had already been held in the section when mud slid onto the rails; four wheels on the engine left the track once the consist halted.
Restoration and delays
Railways deployed a relief locomotive to move the stranded coaches and sent an Accident Relief Train with labour and equipment to shovel the slope material off the alignment. Officials said Thiruvananthapuram–Nagercoil traffic would remain blocked until mud was fully removed and engineers could inspect the formation for further damage.
More than ten services were affected. Southern Railway held or delayed trains including the Parasuram Express, the Tambaram–Thiruvananthapuram Amrit Bharat Express, the Madurai–Punalur Express, multiple Nagercoil and Punalur passenger services, and the Guruvayur–Chennai Egmore Express, according to statements carried by the New Indian Express and Malayalam outlets. Commuters along the Tamil Nadu–Kerala border corridor were told to check running boards before starting journeys.
Weather context
Heavy rain has soaked Kanyakumari, Thiruvananthapuram and neighbouring districts for days, saturating cuttings along the Western Ghats approach to the coast. Tamil media reported a separate mud slip on the Neyyattinkara–Parassala stretch that forced other trains to wait at intermediate stations while the Bilaspur–Tirunelveli crew reacted to the first collapse.
State authorities in Tamil Nadu and Kerala have kept schools closed in several districts under rain warnings, and disaster-response teams remain on alert as another low-pressure band feeds showers into the far south. Railway engineers will decide whether speed restrictions stay in place even after the Parassala blockage clears.
What travellers should expect
Southern Railway has not published a firm time for full resumption. Passengers with tickets on cancelled or short-terminated trains can approach reservation counters for refunds or alternate routing once control publishes a casualty list. Until then, the landslide leaves the main southern tip of the Indian network relying on road detours around the blocked rail neck at Parassala.
Thiruvananthapuram division controllers said geotechnical teams would walk the cutting after the rain eases to check for further slips, a routine step after monsoon failures on the ghats. Kerala State Disaster Management Authority officials urged residents in low-lying wards near Neyyattinkara to monitor district alerts, though Thursday's rail incident did not trigger evacuations.
Long-distance passengers connecting through Chennai or Bengaluru should expect knock-on delays on southbound services even after the track reopens, because held trains will need pathing through the single-line sections toward Nagercoil.