Now that local trains and restrictions are slowly being eased, the railways are worried about this monsoon. The first that the Central Railway and Western Railway are doing is collecting garbage and muck along rail tracks, rail premises and mini dumping grounds created on rail premises. Until March this year, the CR and WR in total collected a massive 3.26 lakh plus cubic meters of muck and garbage. And they have two more months-time until May 31 until which time they need to clear as much as garbage from rail premises and load it into ‘Swachhta Rath’ to prevent water logging.
According to officials from WR they are running muck-special trains which are an effort towards a cleaner environment not only at railway stations but its tracks and surroundings as well. “We have removed 1.60 lakh cubic metres of muck from Mumbai’s suburban section. In order to keep the city’s track clean, we run muck special trains which collect garbage next to the tracks on Main and Harbour lines,” said an official from WR.
During the year 2021-22, 1.60 lakh cubic metres of muck and garbage were cleared from the tracks in the suburban section. Significant portion of this muck has been cleared taking the advantage of the Sunday mega maintenance blocks. The muck and garbage dumped not only deface the tracks but also clog the drainages crossing under it, leading to water-logging on tracks during monsoon.
“We have identified 106 locations where garbage dumping by outsiders has been noticed. These affect the storm water drainage system after waste materials and garbage are dumped on railway tracks thus choking up the drainage, pipeline and culverts. This hinders smooth flow of stormwater at many locations. Also rails get corroded due to release of toxic chemicals from such waste,” said Sumit Thakur, Chief PRO, Western Railway.
These muck specials used to operate only during mid-night wherein the wastes are collected and packed in gunny bags which were then loaded in it. The railwaymen load these dumps using poclain and JCB machines to load garbage and muck collected into the muck special train. Sources said that they are holding meetings with BMC as well to figure out ways to prevent dumping on tracks.
Likewise, even the Central Railway is doing its bit in collecting muck and garbage. “Upto March end this year, we collected and cleared 1.66 lakh cubic metres of muck from Mumbai’s suburban corridor. We are running these muck special trains between CSMT to Kalyan on the Main line and CSMT to Mankhurd on Harbour line,” said Shivaji Sutar, Chief PRO, Central Railway.
Predominantly, the Swachhta Rath was used where the hutments and slums exist and garbage is found dumped. Sources in CR said that there are around 12 stretches where the problem persists namely situated between CSMT – Kalyan. This is at Parsik Tunnel on both side ends, Dombivli station on the slow local line side, Vikhroli, between Matunga – Sion at Dhobi ghat, Dharavi and the stretch between CSMT – Masjid – Sandhurst Road. On the Harbour line between CSMT to Mankhurd is Ravli junction between Wadala and King’s Circle, Mahim, between Chembur and Mankhurd, between Guru Teg Bahadur Nagar and Ravli section.
The WR officials said that there are at least 10 locations and stretches where muck is heavy and needs to be regularly cleaned after collection. These are between Grant Road-Charni Road on the Up fast line, Mahalaxmi-Parel, Dadar-Prabhadevi, Mahim-Kings Circle, Mahim-Bandra-Mahim on both ends, Andheri-Vile Parle, Goregaon-Malad, Jogeshwari-Goregaon and Borivali-Dahisar. While Railways appeal to the public not to pollute or throw waste on to the tracks, people actually do not bother and continue to keep rail premises dirty.
