Every monsoon there is at least once when travel from Kalwa, Mumbra and Diva becomes all the more painful. However, now that the historical work on adding the 5th-6th rail lines between Thane and Diva is complete, the Central Railway is planning to create an extra jacket to protect the entire rail section from heavy rains. They will soon begin work on micro tunnelling on two stretches between Kalwa and Mumbra railway stations to address the issue of waterlogging during heavy rains.
The Central Railway authorities are working out a plan for finishing micro tunnelling before monsoon and will soon be finalizing tenders and appointing contractors. This work is similar to the ones carried out at Masjid, Sandhurst Road, Hindmata and Kurla which was needed to tackle the problem of waterlogging during incessant rains; which leads to disruption or slowdown in train services.
"We will be finalizing the contractor within 2 weeks after which work will be carried out and completed within three months," said a CR official on condition of anonymity.
The micro tunnelling work will be carried out on a stretch of 70 meters below the tracks at two different locations between Kalwa and Mumbra. The drainage will have a depth of at least 2 meters below rail tracks. Sources said that they will also ensure that the Kalwa carshed is free from water logging that bogs down train operations as they are unable to bring new rakes from inside this carshed.
All this is part of pre-monsoon works which according to CR officials, got briefly delayed due to the third wave of Covid-19. Explaining the micro tunnelling works; it is namely a trenchless solution for constructing small diameter tunnels, used especially for projects that require the tunnel to cross under dense traffic roads, railways and rivers.
The Central Railway has tried, tested and commissioned micro tunnelling works near railway stations of Masjid, Sandhurst Road, Kurla and Parel; over the last few months. This is chiefly done to avoid flooding on tracks and disturbance to normal train movement.
