Western Railway (WR) has cut 51 trees and trimmed 1,591 more along its tracks on the Mumbai suburban section as part of its pre-monsoon initiative.
“It was observed that during the monsoon, trees along the railway tracks on railway land, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation land and private land close to the tracks, pose a threat to the movement of trains. We conducted a survey of such trees with the BMC, on the basis of which permission was granted to cut and trim them,” Ravinder Bhakar, chief public relations officer, WR, said.
Due to high winds, branches often get entangled in overhead wires, affecting services. In some cases, trees are bent towards the tracks. On Monday, for instance, an Ashoka tree on private housing society land leaned towards the tracks between Charni Road and Grant Road, leading to two services being cancelled. WR has since cut the tree. Over the past one month, eight services had to be cancelled and 22 were delayed due to branches falling on tracks.
