Mumbai: Railway speed up pre-monsoon work; create connection for water flow, build floodgates

Time is running out for the railway authorities. Until May end, they have to ensure that pre monsoon works are completed. For example, work at Chunabhatti has begun where for the first time box drains are created for water to flow. Usually during rains Chunabhatti is one of the locations that get bogged by water logging every monsoon.

According to engineers from Central Railway, they are enhancing the existing drainage by providing an RCC box under the tracks. “These will be connected to the city’s drainage system at Chunabhatti station. We have begun work on box pushing at this location and we expect work to finish by May end. This will certainly bring relief to commuters travelling on the Harbour line,” said an official from Central Railway.

The work of connection of water flow is being carried out near Chunabhatti nullah which will take water out into the MCGM drainage system. The excavation is being carried out on a proposed length of 140 meters where they are placing RCC pipe having a diameter of 1000mm along this stretch.

Sources said that one of the issues on the Harbour line is the need for augmentation of culvert at Chunabhatti below the rail tracks. For this, the work of box drainage is being undertaken after which they will place high powered pumps as well to drain out water from railway lines during monsoon. The widened drains and side drains will smoothen the flow of water out of the rail system which will lead to lesser trouble for train movement.

The Central Railway, for the first time, has also installed floodgates at vulnerable locations where flooding is possible. These have been installed at areas of Chunabhatti, Sion, Kurla and Matunga that shares its boundary with Mithi River. These floodgates have been installed to prevent water from entering rail tracks especially from Mithi River. The whole idea behind these floodgates is that Mithi River doesn’t hinder train running like it does every monsoon.

The rail tracks on Chunabhatti, Sion, Matunga and Kurla is like a saucer where water tends to accumulate in case of heavy rains and water logging. These floodgates will start closing in when water outside rail premises starts entering during heavy rains. This will prevent excess water from entering rail tracks and we will remove the water logged tracks out using high powered water pumps.

Micro-tunnelling is also expected at Kurla and Chunabhatti for which they are working out details. This work is similar to the ones carried out at Masjid, Sandhurst Road and Hindmata. The micro tunneling works is a trenchless solution for constructing small diameter tunnels used especially for projects that require the tunnel to cross under dense traffic roads, railways and rivers.