With just a fortnight to go, the Central Railway are expediting works for pre-monsoon cleanliness. The division on Tuesday held a joint meeting with BMC regarding the same. Sources in railways said that the discussion namely happened over clearing of the debris along rail tracks and focus on locations close to the Mithi River.
A coordination meeting also was held by Additional Municipal commissioner P. Velarasu with railway authorities at the BMC headquarters on Tuesday with the primary focus on addressing waterlogging issues between Kurla and Matunga and Chunabhatti stations.
"We discussed the need to clear muck from the nallahs (gutters) between Kurla and Sion which connects Mithi River. We will also be placing additional two high powered 1,000 horsepower pumps to drain water from tracks," said a Central Railway official.
The rail tracks on Sion, Matunga and Kurla are like a saucer where water tends to accumulate in case of heavy rains and waterlogging. These floodgates will start closing in when water outside rail premises starts entering during heavy rains. Work on creating an RCC box drain using micro tunnelling at Matunga is also in the pipeline that will come parallel to the Matunga Rail Workshop till Dharavi.
The rail lines falling on this route share boundary with the Mithi River. This makes it prone to waterlogging, especially when it rains heavily. The BMC claimed that they have decided to increase the capacity of dewatering pumps on railway tracks.
Altogether, 28 pumps will be installed on both Central and Western Railways. The railway authorities have been asked to complete the trimming of around 90 trees and cleaning of drains and culverts that run beneath the rail tracks by May 31.
This year, the BMC will install high-pressure pumps at 18 places on the Central and Harbour lines, and at 10 places on the Western line. "These pumps will help prevent waterlogging and rapid pumping of water on railway tracks during heavy rains," claim the BMC official.
To keep railway tracks flood-free, last year, the BMC installed pumps with 2,000 cubic meters per hour capacity. But after last year's experience, the BMC will now install a 9,000 cubic meter capacity pump at Masjid Bunder station, 24,000 cubic metre capacity at Mahalaxmi station and 11,000 cubic meters capacity near Chunabhatti Railway station.
Apart from these, two pumps with a capacity of 3,000 cubic meters per hour are being installed between Prabhadevi and Dadar. The pumped water will be brought to the underground storage tanks at Pramod Mahajan Udyan.
Similarly, pumps are being installed at six places between Dadar to Matunga Road and three places near Bandra Terminus station. Pumps of different capacities are being installed at Masjid Station, Sandhurst, Byculla, Chinchpokli, Parel, Sion, Ghatkopar, Vidyavihar, Vikhroli, Bhandup, Nahur, Sewri, Wadala, Tilak Nagar.
The CR authorities for the first time have also installed floodgates at vulnerable locations where flooding is possible. These include areas of Chunabhatti, Sion, Kurla and Matunga. These floodgates have been installed to prevent water from entering rail tracks from the Mithi River.
