Keeping in line with Western Railway’s “Swachh Rail, Swachh Bharat” initiative and considering the flooding of railway tracks due to heavy rains over the Mumbai Suburban section every year, cleaning of the garbage along the tracks is a gargantuan task. To tackle this recurring problem, WR’s Mumbai Division has cleared around 11,000 truckloads of garbage on its suburban section in the last 11 months. This number is nearly 3,000 truckloads more as compared to the garbage collected in the same period last year.
According to Sumit Thakur – Chief Public Relations Officer of Western Railway, cleaning of the garbage will reduce waterlogging on tracks during monsoon which is a persistent problem that effects regular train services. In Mumbai Suburban section, most of the tracks are located in low lying areas such as Vasai Road and Nallasopara, hence these areas are prone to flooding. To gear up for monsoon season, close monitoring of these areas is important and solution lies in giving more access to stormwater to curb flooding, which can be done by cleaning the area of muck and garbage. After the cleaning of culverts or nullahs, the collected muck/silt is filled in bags, so that they are not scattered on the tracks elsewhere.
