Mumbai: In the aftermath of the floods that hit the Vasai-Nalasopara-Virar line, Western Railway (WR) is planning a series of measures to minimise waterlogging on tracks. On Tuesday, the train services to and from the region were completely shut due to waterlogging.
Among the immediate proposals is a wall along Nalasopara station. “We have noticed that water enters the tracks from the road running parallel to the fast platform. We will be building a 50-metre-long wall to block the water. The wall will be as high as the platform,” A.K. Gupta, general manager, WR, said.
Mr. Gupta said they had a joint meeting involving multiple agencies, which included the Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation (VVMC) on July 11. “We need to ensure that water flows towards the creek when the tide is low and it will give us an opportunity to drain the water out of the tracks.”
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The WR has also given the VVMC permission to construct extra culverts. Railway officials said they are exploring raising the height of the tracks.
Central Railway
Central Railway (CR) officials said they will be building a sluice gate at Matunga station, where waterlogging occurred on Monday and Tuesday.
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“We found out that while our drain was clean, the water wasn’t flowing into the main drain of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC),” S.K. Jain, Divisional Railway Manager (Mumbai), CR, said.
The sluice gate will come up where the two drains meet. “The idea is to shut the sluice gate and discharge the water into the BMC drain using pumps. The gate will be raised when there is less rainfall and the water will be discharged as usual,” a senior railway official said.
The gate is being designed by CR engineers and will be of nine square metres. The Railways wants the gate to be light so that it will be quick to shut. “We are trying to execute the project this monsoon,” Mr. Jain said.