Mumbai: Central Railway has issued a chargesheet to a railway supervisor and initiated penalty proceedings against the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) after completing its inquiry into the ground cave-in between Turbhe and Kopar Khairane stations on the Trans Harbour line. The incident, which occurred on June 24, disrupted suburban train services for nearly two-and-a-half hours after the soil beneath the railway tracks gave way, affecting hundreds of local train services and causing major inconvenience to commuters.
MIDC Violated Approved Micro-Tunnelling Conditions, Says Inquiry
The inquiry found that the Railways had granted MIDC permission to lay underground utilities using the micro-tunnelling method. However, instead of following the approved procedure, MIDC allegedly carried out pipe-pushing work, violating the conditions of the permission. According to railway officials, the unauthorized method weakened the soil supporting the tracks, leading to the cave-in. The Railways had also directed that the work be completed within one year, but the project was delayed and safety precautions were found to be inadequate during execution.
Following the incident, railway teams carried out emergency restoration work and suspended train operations on the affected section for around 2.5 hours to ensure passenger safety. The probe also identified lapses in supervision, following which the concerned railway supervisor was served a chargesheet. Officials said the process of imposing a financial penalty on MIDC has also begun for violating the approved conditions of the work.
Railway officials said around 60 per cent of the project has been completed and MIDC has now been granted an additional three months to finish the remaining work. The underground pipeline project is expected to be completed by January 2026. The Railways has also decided to tighten monitoring of similar infrastructure works near operational railway tracks to prevent such incidents in the future.
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