Mumbai, June 13: Central Railway has intensified its preparations for the monsoon season in the Mumbai division. CPRO Swapnil Neela announced that 117 flood-prone points have been identified, and 210 pumps have been installed to manage water accumulation. Safety measures for ghat sections and signal systems have been enhanced to ensure smooth train operations.
Neela explained that Central Railway prepares for the monsoon on two levels. The first level focuses on areas prone to flooding, such as Mulund, Matunga, and Sion. The second level addresses ghat sections, particularly from Karjat to Lonavala and Kasara to Igatpuri. This year, 117 locations have been identified where flooding issues have occurred at least once in the past decade. Pumps have been installed at all these sites.
Additionally, 18 sensitive locations have been marked for special measures to mitigate permanent or temporary flooding issues. In some areas, the tracks have been elevated. Following last year’s flooding in the Chunabhatti area, track elevation work has been completed there this year.
Regarding ghat section preparations, Neela noted that modern measures have been implemented to tackle issues such as boulder falls, landslides, track washouts, and land subsidence during the monsoon. Thanks to these measures, rail operations in ghat sections were not affected in the past two years, and a similar outcome is expected this year.
He also mentioned that last year, safety measures were implemented on all point machines in accordance with IP-67 standards. This ensures that even if water accumulates up to half a meter on the tracks, the operation of signals and point machines remains unaffected. This year, special plastic coatings have been applied to signals as an additional precaution.
On Friday morning, around 9:10 AM, the train manager of a local train arriving from Panvel to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus reported that an individual had thrown a wire onto the overhead electric wire. This raised concerns about entanglement between the pantograph and the overhead wire. In the interest of safety, rail services were temporarily halted. Subsequently, repair work was conducted between Kurla and Chembur, and services were restored.
The railway authorities have urged citizens and passengers to refrain from such actions, as they can cause significant inconvenience to thousands of travelers.
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