[laluks]

ok then does it mean all the areas except for coonor mettupalayam is reachable?

[beejay]

Originally Posted by laluks

ok then does it mean all the areas except for coonor mettupalayam is reachable?

Yes. There are no problems connecting from Mysore to Nilgiris.

[Gandhi]

We are planning a trip to Nilgiris in 1st week of January. We are very much interested in the train journey from Ooty to Coonoor. Will it be operational by then?

[PearlJam]

beejay, thanks for the useful and up-to-date information about the situation in the Nilgiris. Really appreciate it!

[beejay]

Originally Posted by Gandhi

We are planning a trip to Nilgiris in 1st week of January. We are very much interested in the train journey from Ooty to Coonoor. Will it be operational by then?

The Blue Mountain Rail will resume service in two months. Its should be functioning by Jan.

[wmanu]

CHENNAI: As the northeast monsoons continued to lash several parts of Tamil Nadu, the death toll due to rains rose to 71, with the Nilgiris alone
accounting for 43 deaths. With sheets of water inundating Ooty, Kotagiri and Coonoor towns, the picturesque Nilgiris wore a battered look. Landslips and heavy rains claimed 29 more lives in the hill district, taking the toll in the last two days to 43.

Uprooted trees and stagnating water blocked traffic and cut off the road link between Coonoor and Ooty even as land slips triggered a trail of house collapses and human tragedies. Two senior ministers, Veerapandi S Arumugam and Pongalur N Palanisamy, and a team of officials have rushed to the hill resort to oversee rescue and relief work. Earlier in the day, chief minister M Karunanidhi held discussions with the chief secretary and senior officials on expediting relief works.

Nilgiris collector Anand Rao V Patil told TOI that six teams of fire service personnel were undertaking rescue operations along with 170 STF and Tamil Nadu Special Police personnel. More than 700 people had been accommodated in 10 camps across the district.

“All works related to rescue and relief operations in the district are going on well,” he said.

Source: Times Of India
Date: 11 November 2009, 07:32am IST

[beejay]

A few pictures. This is near Lovedale.

[beejay]

Some more pictures, this was a small stream.

[Fordy]

Hmm.. How did I miss this thread?

Beejay, Thanks very mch for your updates. In fact, your thread came as a lifeline to me, I was planning to go to Ooty (Frm Bangalore) on 28th Nov and was trying to gather info about the roads. Thanks again.

[beejay]

Originally Posted by Fordy

Hmm.. How did I miss this thread?

Beejay, Thanks very mch for your updates. In fact, your thread came as a lifeline to me, I was planning to go to Ooty (Frm Bangalore) on 28th Nov and was trying to gather info about the roads. Thanks again.

Fordy, if you are coming from Bangalore you should have no problem until Ooty.
The majority of the damage to roads is on the lower side of Ooty to Coonoor.

[pypkmsrikanth]

Originally Posted by beejay

The Blue Mountain Rail will resume service in two months. Its should be functioning by Jan.

In the news carried in tamil channels the GM was talking off 4 months to repair the Coonoor - Mettupalalyam stretch, though the Coonoor - Ooty should be ready in about 2 months time. The priority is to get it ready in time for 2010 summer season it seems.

[sabsubs]

I and my family were planning to travel to Ooty during this week but we have dropped the idea. We know how badly it rains in Ooty since I was born and bought up in Ooty. It is better to avoid travelling during this time to Ooty.

[beejay]

Originally Posted by pypkmsrikanth

In the news carried in tamil channels the GM was talking off 4 months to repair the Coonoor - Mettupalalyam stretch, though the Coonoor - Ooty should be ready in about 2 months time. The priority is to get it ready in time for 2010 summer season it seems.

Work has started on war footing measures on the track. In total there have been mud slides in 35 places and in a few places the track has been cut off.

Should be operational by Jan.

[klassics45]

we are visiting on 25th and coming from coimbatore. which route would be best to reach ooty?

[shankar.balan]

the only thing I can suggest is that the Nilgiri Biosphere activists get up in arms and beat some sense into the municipal fellows. I am sure the District Collector will lend support to a movement against such silly ideas.

The older rivetments are made of closely packed grey granite stones of different sizes. As I said, it is an art to build a proper rivetment and it is also a laborious process. Notice that in almost all the older parts, none of the rivetments have shown deterioration except where they have been tampered with by the current crop of dunderheads.

If they cut down the huge old trees they are destroying the highly interconnected root system which is probably one of the few last bastions which is holding the soil together.
By now, one would think they should be changing all the electric cables from the olde overhead to the underground type!

Originally Posted by beejay

The newly built revetments inclusive of the steel rails have collapsed in the rain, the older ones till stay strong. I wonder how?

Just to piss you off further, the municipality is being mooted to cut down the big tress bordering the main roads.
Reason, the big trees are a risk to the electric poles and pose a problem if they fall on the road.
Some of these trees are more than a century old.