Mumbai: Railways to lift nearly 60 km of tracks to prevent flooding

Keeping the services running during the monsoon is a challenge for both railways in Mumbai and lifting the tracks is one way of doing this

Besides regular monsoon preparations, about 59.8 km of tracks will be raised this year in the city to avoid flooding and waterlogging along Mumbai's railway routes.

While 47.8 km track lifting has been planned on the Central Railway Mumbai division, about 12 km of track lifting is planned on Mumbai suburban line of Western Railway.

"On WR, the 12 km local line track will be lifted by 300 mm between Nallasopara and Virar stations. About 5 km has been done and the rest will be done by June 15," a WR spokesperson said.

"On CR, about 40 km track lifting has been done in Thane-Diva section and Vidyavihar- Kanjurmarg section and 7.8 km track lifting in Kurla-Mankhurd section on the harbour line. CR will be able to complete the track lifting by next month," a spokesperson said.

Also Read: Mumbai: Gokhale bridge work affects bid to reduce flooding at Andheri subway

Other works on as well

"Besides track lifting, other works include additional water pumps, micro-tunnelling, cleaning and desilting of 118.48 km of drains and 88 culverts, tree trimming, mulch removal, fencing and netting in the Ghats, water-proofing equipment, a 24x7 control room with hourly monitoring of weather and maintaining close coordination with local authorities," CR Chief Public Relations Officer Dr Shivraj Manaspure said, adding that this year the capacity and numbers of pumps have been increased between 12.5 HP and 100 HP.

At least 24 vulnerable flooding-prone locations identified where 166 pumps will be provided. Railways will provide 120 High Power pumps, 15 Normal pumps and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation will provide the balance 31 pumps. The locations identified on the main line are Masjid, Mazgaon yard, Byculla, Chinchpokli, Currey Road, Parel, Dadar, Matunga, Sion, Kurla, Vikhroli, Kanjurmarg, Bhandup and Mulund. Locations identified on Harbour line are Sewri, Vadala, Guru Tegh Bahadur Nagar, Chunabhatti, Tilak Nagar, etc.

"WR has also been conducting topographical studies on flooding patterns at locations in the suburbs and this year developed more underground waterways for quick discharge of accumulated water during the monsoon. Five new waterways to ensure a flood-free commute in the monsoon are being constructed," WR Chief Public Relations officer Sumit Thakur said.

AC local faces glitch on WR

Commuters of the premium Churchgate-bound AC local train faced inconvenience on Wednesday morning in the rush hour as the air-conditioning system malfunctioned in two coaches, leading to complaints of suffocation. The train had a halt for extra time at Bhayander, Mira Road, Dahisar, Borivli and Bandra stations due to the chaos caused by affected passengers in both coaches. Commuters at Bandra also stopped the train by pulling the alarm chain.

"There was an issue of the AC not working in two coaches of the Virar-Churchgate train this morning due to which the train stopped for extra time at a few stations. However, the issue was attended to by the Train Escorting Staff and resolved," a WR spokesperson said.

59.8km
Length of total tracks that will be lifted