Mumbai: Unlike years before, monsoon bulwark keeps Central Railway on tracks

Mumbai: The arduous monsoon preparedness of the Central Railway and BMC seems to have worked as rains, so far, have failed to disrupt the local train services on the central line. To prevent the annual flooding of tracks, the CR and civic body carried out augmentation of waterways in tandem.

Recalling the unsour experiences of last year, the CR official said that waterlogging forced trains to stop several times in the months of June and July, 2021. The ordeal didn’t repeat this year, the official underlined, while mentioning that though services were partially suspended last month but the operations didn’t come to a grinding halt.

Lauding the CR for providing the commuters an almost seamless travelling experience this year, Rail Yatri Parishad president Subhash Gupta said, “No one can neglect the work done by the railways and BMC to stop waterlogging on tracks this year.” However, it also needs to be mentioned that the rains are comparatively less than last year, he said.

Describing the efforts undertaken to build the monsoon bulwark, the CR official said, “A lot of work has been done in the Masjid and Sandhurst Road section, which is considered one of the most sensitive spots in terms of waterlogging.”

Apart from a culvert augmentation in the Masjid area through microtunneling, the route of water drainage was changed as it earlier passed through a culvert having an ROB pier, which could have obstructed the smooth flow of water.

In addition to this, the BMC enhanced the capacity of existing pumping arrangement at ONGC outfall from 300 cubic metre to 9,000 cubic metre capacity.

Floodgates have also been installed to regulate the flow and prevent waterlogging, the official added. Also, a new satellite pumping arrangement has been set up near the Mahalaxmi railway station area. It helped fast disposal of stormwater to Loveguru pumping station during high tide and avoided flooding in the area.

The connection of the downstream network of Mukhyadhyapak nullah is also partially diverted to the new RCC box drain at Sant Rohidas marg. This technique kept flooding at bay from the Sion station, which is also one of the chronic flooding spots.

Similarly, an additional gated pumping arrangement, of 3x3,000 cubic meter per hour, was made by the BMC near Eastern Express Highway in Chunabhatti East. Also, work was done for better flow of water at the confluence point of Vinay mandir nullah and Kamghar nullah hence preventing flooding at the Kurla station.

The works of laying of 900mm diameter RCC pipe of length 500 mt and floodgate installation has been completed near the Wadala station. Apart from that, 18 mediumsize underground culverts, which were clogged, were cleaned by the BMC hence strengthening the monsoon bulwark.