Mumbai: The city’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport has extended the suspension of all air services to 10 pm from 8 pm announced earlier due to the cyclone ‘Tauktae’. This is the fourth time in the day, the private airport operator has extended the closure of operations after first announcing it for three hours, starting 11 am. “The closure of the flight operations at CSMIA has been extended further till 2200 hours of May 17,” the private airport operator said in the updated statement.
Mumbai airport, which is the second busiest airport in the country, is reportedly operating around 250 flights in a day due to low passenger demand amid the deadly and more virulent second wave of the pandemic. Meanwhile, gusty winds and heavy showers lashed Mumbai and its neighbouring areas on Monday as the very severe cyclonic storm Tauktae headed towards Gujarat, uprooting trees and disrupting local train services in the metropolis, according to officials.
Indigo, SpiceJet flights diverted
Further, three city-bound flights operated by budget carriers IndiGo and SpiceJet were diverted due to the closure of all services at the city airport in the morning. A city-bound IndiGo flight was diverted to Hyderabad and a SpiceJet flight to Surat, while one IndiGo flight was sent back to Lucknow, as per the airport.
Water-logging, tree fall affect CR services
Suburban train services between CSMT and Wadala on Central Railway’s Harbour line were suspended on Monday from 1:20pm due to water-logging on the tracks near Masjid station in the wake of cyclone Tauktae heading towards the coast of Gujarat, an official said.
CR chief public relations officer (CPRO) Shivaji Sutar said water-logging was observed on the Up (going towards CSMT) and Down (going towards Panvel) tracks at Masjid station after which services were suspended on the corridor from 1:20pm. He tweeted that trains on CR’s suburban mainline, trans-harbour, BSU (Uran) and Wadala-Panvel routes were operational.
A tree-fall was also reported on the overhead wire at Dombivali on the CSMT-Kalyan section in the afternoon though no train was passing through at the time, officials said. Earlier in the day, a tree fell on the overhead wire between Ghatkopar and Vikhroli stations, while services on the Harbour line were affected for a while after a vinyl banner fell on the overhead wire due to gusty winds, they added.
While close to eight million people use the suburban system of Central and Western Railways in Mumbai and its metropolitan region daily, the services currently are available only to those mandated by the Maharashtra government amid ‘break the chain’ restrictions in place for the COVID-19 outbreak.
(With inputs from PTI)