Mumbai: Central Railway (CR) train services were derailed due to falling of boulders along with 150 cubic metres of muck in the middle of the tracks between Thakurwadi and Monkey Hill stations at the Karjat-Lonavala section at 3.20 pm on July 8. One boulder sized two metres in length, 1.5 metres width and 1.2 metres in height fell on the Down track bending the rail and thereby rendering both middle and Downline unsafe. A part of the old Canadian fencing along with ST sleepers also fell on the tracks with muck and boulders.
A boulder special train reached the site at 5 pm and after rail replacement, Downline track was operational by 6 pm. Removing the boulders and muck from the middle line was more challenging and after manually removing the boulders and muck the middle track was declared safe at 4.55 am on July 9. All these operations were done in record time with two senior divisional officers, four section engineers and 100 workmen working for 14 hours at a stretch to restore traffic on the section.
