In the monsoon season, Mumbai, every year, faces flooding problem due to which train services get disrupted. So, in order to avoid disruption of train services, the Western Railway (WR) and Central Railway (CR) will raise track height in flood-prone areas.
According to the Indian Express, after incessant rain disrupted suburban train services to Virar in July 2018 as the Vasai-Virar belt witnessed a flood-like situation, the WR on Monday said that there will be special monitoring in the area this monsoon. WR has identified low-lying and flood-prone areas, which include tracks/yards of Grant Road, Prabhadevi (Elphinstone Road), Dadar, Matunga Road-Mahim, Bandra-Khar, Andheri-Jogeshwari, and Vasai-Virar sections, where special monitoring will be done during monsoon.
WR Chief Public Relations Officer Ravindra Bhaker told the Indian Express, “Areas that are below sea-level and where chances of water-logging are high, we have planned to lift the tracks up so that local trains can continue to operate smoothly. In the Mahim Yard on the Harbour line and on Bandra-Khar Down slow line, work of lifting tracks has been completed.” The WR has also installed about 154 high-power pumps at vulnerable low-lying locations such as Marine Lines, Mumbai Central, Dadar, and Bandra.
On the other hand, the Central Railway has also decided to lift up the track by up to 6 inches. The Chief Public Relations Officer of CR Sunil Udasi told the leading daily that 95 pumps will be deployed in flood-prone areas. CR has completed 80 percent cleaning of culverts.
