Kerala Floods: Rail Services Partially Resumed, Kochi Airport To Restart Operations From 26 August

Rail services are being partially resumed in flood hit Kerala while the Kochi airport will also resume operations from 26 August.

Services in Kayankulam-Kottayam- Ernakulam and Palakkad-Shoranur-Kozhikkode sections have been restored. Aluva- Thrissur, Thrissur-Shoranur, Kayamkulam-Kottayam- Ernakulam Shoranur-Tirur, Shoranur- Palakkad routes which had been damaged by the flood have been repaired. Train operations in Aluva- Thrissur, Thrissur-Shoranur have been restored, ANI has reported.

Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) said that it would strive to restore operations in Kochi airport from 26 August 2018 in a note published on its website. The note said that all 800 runway lights had to be removed, tested and refitted for safety purposes. It added that 2,600 meter boundary wall of the airport had been lost during the flood. Authorities said that milling work necessary to restore the runway would be completed in two days.

CIAL said that the reconstruction work was ongoing. Further, the airport authorities said that they would erect some temporary structures to meet the 26 August deadline. Some of the domestic flights have been using the Navy airport in Kochi since Monday (20 August).

Water that had entered the airport’s premises has receded and cleaning work is ongoing as per CIAL’s update adding that more airlines will begin domestic operations from the Navy airport.