Boulder damages railway track; Pune-Mumbai trains diverted

PUNE: The heavy and incessant rainfall in Pune, Mumbai and in ghat areas has adversely affected train services between the two cities. On Saturday night, a minor landslide near Lonavla caused blocking of railway tracks as delay in the trains coming to Pune from Mumbai continued on Monday.

According to railway officials, the train tracks have been damaged at over a dozen places between Karjat-Lonavla and Badlapur-Karjat stretches in the ghat section. Landslides along the route, waterlogging in Mumbai and Thane and continued downpour in Mumbai further affected the train services.

Central Railway spokesperson Sunil Udasi said that the tracks in the Karjat-Lonavla section have been damaged at nine places, including a location where the track has been washed away.

“In Karjat-Lonavla section, there has been track damage at nine sites. These include both UP and DOWN lines. At six places, repair work has been completed. At two places, work is still underway as safety checks are being carried out. At the remaining spots, where the worst damage has been sustained, the work is in progress and will take some time before it could be finished and the track can be opened for traffic,” said Udasi. 

While the repair work is underway at full speed, it is unlikely that normal services will resume before Wednesday. The trains are likely to remain off-track between the two cities on Tuesday as well.

Many trains were cancelled on Monday including Deccan Queen, Intercity Express, Sinhagad Express, Deccan Express and Indrayani Express. Several other long-distance trains going towards Mumbai were short-terminated at Pune. Thus, those wanting to commute between Pune and Mumbai had to fully rely on road transport.

Udasi said that the tracks were damaged at three locations in Badlapur-Karjat section and the Railways was trying to mend them by deploying additional work power and machinery.

“The damage has been caused by the overflowing of rivers with ballast getting washed away and tracks loosening. The repair work is being carried out on a war footing. Since these locations are in the ghat section, we have to be very careful and take additional precautions before opening the tracks,” said CPRO. 

Harsha Shah from Railway Pravasi Group claimed that the already undertaken repair work in the ghat section, which is supposed to continue till August 9, has further compounded the issue.

“The railway administration did not anticipate so much rainfall and landslide troubles. Due to the repair work and the landslides, the situation has worsened,” said Shah.