Despite heavy rains, suburban trains running without disruptions

A railway track water-logged due to heavy rains in Mumbai. Pic/Sameer Markande

Despite heavy rains over the past three days, special suburban and mail/express trains have been running without much delays and issues. About 700 local train trips have been done since July 1 on the Central and Western Railway.

A Western Railway spokesperson said that in spite of heavy rainfall in various parts of Mumbai and northern suburbs, WR's special suburban services have been running as normal without any disruptions.

"There have been issues of water-logging, but it has not led to any detention of trains or services. Central Railway had already identified 17 vulnerable locations of water-logging and provided more than 140 pumps (both by Railways and by Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai). This year the capacity and number of pumps were increased at flood-prone locations. The locations identified on main line are Masjid, Mazgaon yard, Byculla, Curry Road, Sion, Kurla, Vikhroli, Ghatkopar, Nanipada, Thane, Dombivali; on Harbour line are Sewri, Vadala, Chunabhatti, Koparkhairane and on main line towards southeast," a CR spokesperson said.

On the Western Railway, 15 sections have been identified in low-lying areas and overhead wires have been lifted from 100 mm to 250 mm. This will help in avoiding submergence of tracks during heavy intensity rainfalls during the current monsoon.

Post-cleaning joint inspection with respective municipal corporations, i.e., MCGM, MBMC, and VVCMC is also in progress. Out of the existing 55 culverts, whose cleaning work is completed, post-cleaning inspection of 44 culverts has been completed.

Pre-monsoon cleaning of 47 km of drain network has been completed. More rounds of cleaning will be done during monsoon. Ten automatic rain gauge have been installed for real-time monitoring of rainfall and water level data and subsequent preventive actions on a real-time basis.

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates.

Mid-Day is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@middayinfomedialtd) and stay updated with the latest news