Central Railway will no longer dump garbage near Vashi creek

Following the derailment of the goods train near Parsik Tunnel, the engineering department of Central Railways' Mumbai division has cleared around 75,000 cubic metres of garbage from the tracks

The Central Railway this week said that they had formally ended the age-old practice of dumping debris and garbage on empty land near the Vashi creek, and have identified other land and construction sites where it will now be dumped, without causing any harm to the environment.

As a practice, Central Railway has been running 'garbage trains' for the past several years, which go around and collect debris, garbage bags, and discarded material lying along the tracks. These trains then dumped the garbage at various open spaces near open lines, and one such major dumping ground was near Vashi creek. Following criticism, the railways had promised that they would no longer dump the garbage there.

"We have now completely stopped dumping garbage near the Vashi creek. What we are doing instead, is using the debris to fill up sites where railway projects are on, and using it to level up as formation," Central Railway Mumbai Divisional Railway Manager SK Jain said.

Muck specials
The CR has three or four special trains called ‘Muck Specials', which run on three Central Railway routes, after the local service shuts down for the day. The garbage trains are usually old discarded local trains and open carriage wagons, stationed at important stations like Kurla, Thane and Kalyan, and they set out in the night to pick up debris.

CR officials said they were also in talks with the local civic bodies, including the BMC, to identify land where the dumping could happen without any hindrance or environment violation. "We are in talks with BMC officials who have identified a piece of land for us near Mankhurd, away from mangroves. This will be used by us to dump the debris along with identified railway construction sites," Jain added.

Major issue
Garbage has been a major problem for Central Railway and it has also led to a derailment in December near Thane. Following the derailment of the goods train near Parsik Tunnel, the engineering department of Central Railways' Mumbai division had cleared around 15,000 cubic metres garbage along the track. Till now, it has been able to clear 75,000 cubic metres of garbage, Jain added.

Catch up on all the latest Mumbai news, crime news, current affairs, and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates