Mumbai: WR lays pipes to avoid waterlogging on tracks along Bandra-Khar stretch

Every monsoon there are stretches across Mumbai’s suburban rail lines, which gets waterlogged. A stretch on the Bandra-Khar line is one of them that gets flooded and trains either halt or move at a snail’s pace.

This year though, things could be different. The Western Railway is in the last leg of completing two huge drainage pipelines having diameter of 1800mm for which work began in 2018. These pipes will ensure that water will rinse out from the rail lines into Mithi River and not lead to flooding on tracks. These massive drainage pipes are crisscrossing on east-west directions running perpendicular to the railway lines at least 2 meters below the surface.

“We have constructed two new cement concrete drainage pipes of 1800mm diameter using micro-tunnelling method. The old existing arch drain has dilapidated and has reduced water flowing capacity,” said Sumit Thakur, Chief PRO, Western Railway. “We will be completing this work by April-end”.

Every monsoon, the residents staying near the multiplex there and even those residing in railway quarters; complain of heavy flooding. On the east side as well, there is heavy water logging that happens choking the waterway flowing towards Mithi River. The path leading to the residential quarters of railways are inundated and people find it difficult to walk.

This work is being carried out at a cost of Rs 4.5 crore of which the BMC will be sharing the cost. Sources said that the civic body is required to pay around Rs 2.92 crore to the WR authorities for this work. These drainage pipes will also help in smooth flow of water to the Mithi River.

These new drainage pipelines are almost 2.5 to 3 times larger than what existed earlier in the same locations. This micro tunnelling work is similar to the one which was installed at other locations covering the railway yard in Vasai, stretches on Nalasopara-Virar, Nalasopara-Vasai and Goregaon-Malad. These massive culverts will surely bring relief in easing train travel during monsoon seasons.