On Monday the local trains moved slowly but didn't stop. There were cases of water logging in several stretches of Western and Central Railways but it didn't stall services. Meanwhile autos, taxis and aggregator cabs were less in numbers as rains continued to batter and their vehicles were still getting repaired with mechanics. There were handful of cases were power supply was disrupted across the city and suburbs due to water logging.
To begin with, the local trains on both Central Railway and Western Railway ran with few hiccups. The WR fared better with minimum problems on Vasai-Virar belt, Prabhadevi and Mahim stations unlike that seen on Sunday where they sold 67000 suburban rail tickets. They operated trains smoothly though it was run and late.
The issue on CR was seen near Kasara where mudslide and tree collapse blocked one of the rail lines at around 9am or so. It was restored by 12.30pm. By 10.15am the CR authorities temporarily suspended train services between Vikhroli and Kanjurmarg stations due to heavy rainfall and water logging.
“Traffic was restored soon. It was suspended for 15-20 minutes,” said Shivaji Sutar, Chief PRO, Central Railway. Trains on other sections namely between Thane-Karjat/Kasara, CSMT-Panvel and other corridors of Trans-Harbour and Belapur/Nerul-Kharkopar Fourth corridor were operating smoothly. They were running trains cautiously on the Main line due to water logging at Vikhroli, Kanjurmarg and Thane.
By 3pm, the slow line between Kalwa and Mumbra were stopped due to heavy rains and water logging near Kalwa that was restored within just over 30 minutes. In the early evening hours, severe rains in MMR affected train services at Kalyan and the CR authorities operated services cautiously while passing Kalyan. Finally by 8.15pm, they stopped train movement passing Kalyan station owing to water logged tracks.
The road transport was severely affected as more than 90 percent of autos, black and yellow taxis and aggregator cabs were off road. Most of these vehicles were affected by Sunday’s water logging that damaged the engines. “The drivers preferred attending to their vehicles than taking it out on road which were badly damaged and have potholes. More than 90 percent of auto rickshaws were off road,” said KK Tiwari, auto rickshaw union leader.
Likewise, the kaali-peeli taxis too remained off road. “The drivers didn’t venture much as it continued to rain,” said Prem Singh, senior taxi union leader. On Sunday these cabbies were seen struggling to clean their taxis and get it started. The aggregator cabs of Ola and Uber too were less on roads.
“The rains saw few passengers coming out. Plus the vehicles were damaged due to water logging and so drivers didn’t take out their vehicles. It is better than making a dry run,” said Prashant Sawardekar, aggregator cab union leader, Maharashtra Rajya Rashtra Kamgaar Sanghatana. The BEST on the other hand faced lesser problems on Monday with barely 5-7 bus routes being diverted. On Sunday the Undertaking operated 2175 buses while on Monday they ran 3082 buses.
The electricity supply was not affected much throughout the city and suburbs. The BEST received complaints about power fluctuations at areas of Dadar, Matunga, Bhuleshwar, Girgaum and Wadala but these were individual complaints in pockets. The power supply at large was stable.
The Adani Electricity Mumbai Limited claimed that there weren’t any supply related issues unlike seen on Sunday at Mira Road, Bhayander, Kandivali, Poisar, Malad, Dahisar and Saki Naka. Speaking on the monsoon advisory, AEML spokesperson said,” Consumer safety and wellbeing is priority and our team has been on-ground from last two days ensuring minimal supply downtime and mitigating complaints. In case they face any supply related complaints they can call us on our 24x7 helpline number 19122 or call Central Disaster Control Centre on 022- 50549111 / 50547225 / 29688111 and 29688225”.
