Rush hour woes: Harbour and WR services disrupted

Gravel erosion at Mankhurd in the morning, and tree branches falling on lines near Lower Parel in the evening compound passenger misery

Travel trouble: The rain continued to wreak havoc on Wednesday, with waterlogged roads affecting pedestrians as well as traffic movement.

Mumbai: Heavy rainfall continued to lash the city and its suburbs for the fourth consecutive day on Wednesday, disrupting local train services on the Central Railway’s Harbour Line for some time in the morning and the Western line during evening rush hour and leading to passengers having long waits at stations and in stopped trains.

With two of the three arterial train lines affected, and the waterlogging in several areas following the downpour, traffic continued to crawl on the roads. The inundated roads also made it hard for pedestrians, who had to wade through the accumulated rainwater.

The Harbour Line stopped for nearly 35 minutes, as gravel supporting tracks and sleepers was washed away at Mankhurd station. A train was stopped at Mankhurd’s Platform 2 between 8.20 a.m and 8.55 a.m. This led to chaos at the stations as passengers decided to walk on the tracks. “The water on the tracks is a big problem for us,” a Central Railway official said. “We have to stop train services if water levels come above the tracks. Due to stopping of one train, the trains were stranded back to back towards CST.” Many passengers said that they took nearly an hour to reach Mankhurd from Vashi. “After a thorough check of the train and maintenance of tracks, we were able to run the train after 45 minutes,” an official said.

A.K. Singh, PRO, CR, said the trains had to be stopped as a precautionary measure. He said that services on the Main line were smooth, but because of the heavy downpour, trains were running 10-15 minutes behind schedule.

In the evening, Western Railway services were disrupted at around 6.45 p.m. after a tree branch fell on a train between Mahalaxmi and Lower Parel stations on the Down line. The branch fell on the over head equipment (OHE), tripping the wire. A huge spark was reported by the passengers. Trains were delayed for nearly an hour.

Ravindra Bhakar, Chief PRO, WR, said, “The problem was solved on a war footing, [but] as it was peak time, there was bunching of trains.” A team of engineers immediately rushed to the site and the damage was rectified. However, as soon as the work was completed, a branch of another tree fell on the OHE, and this could be removed only by 7.30 p.m. The incident also took place on the slow Down line; slow trains were diverted on to the fast tracks. Some normalcy returned on the Western Line at around 7.50 p.m.

Ram Singh, a passenger who was stuck at Grant Road station, said, “I am waiting for a train to go home since last hour and thirty minutes, but I am not able to get inside the train. I think we all should take leave for four months of monsoon and sit at home.”

Western Railway officials said that they have been sending reminders to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to trim trees, but these had been ignored, An official blamed the BMC’s not giving permission for trimming for the incidents which disrupted services.

According to an official of the BMC’s disaster management department, the Colaba observatory recorded 63 mm rainfall and Santacruz 51.1 mm in the last 24 hours. Since June 1, Colaba has recorded 469.9 mm (a departure of - 35 mm) and Santacruz 415.8 mm (a departure of - 53.6 mm) of rainfall.