Mumbai Rains: Trains grind to a halt on Central Railway, Western Railway manages with stray flooding

Waterlogged tracks between Sion and Matunga on Central Railway on Wednesday. Pics/Suresh Karkera

On the first day of heavy rains in the city, the Central Railway (CR) suburban services came to a grinding halt while the Western Railway (WR) managed to stay afloat. Railway officials said that the services had to be stopped as a precautionary measure. CR refuted allegations of Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar, who claimed that BMC was not getting the required support from railways.

A pump set up by BMC was letting out water into railway area, leading to flooding on tracks

"Due to heavy rains in suburbs and waterlogging between Sion-Kurla, as precautionary measures, the train services between CSMT-Kurla have been suspended from 9.50 am. Subsequently, services were suspended between Mumbai CSMT and Thane, too," CR's chief public relations officer Shivaji Sutar said.

"There was a high tide at 11.43 am combined with heavy rains which led to flooding in the city and on railway tracks. Railway pumps at Chunabhatti, Sion and Kurla had been pumping out water," Sutar added.

"The Dadar-Andheri region received over 300 mm rain on Wednesday. However, rail traffic on all four lines continued on WR throughout the day. Trains were run at a restricted speed of 25 kmph on the down slow line in Matunga Road-Mahim section due to some waterlogging," WR's chief public relations officer Sumit Thakur said.

On the road, too, traffic was diverted at a few locations. There was waterlogging in the south-bound direction on Sion-Panvel road near Mankhurd station. Several buses were diverted and rescheduled throughout the day. Till late afternoon, the BEST had operated 3,349 buses of which 50 were reported defective due to waterlogging.

A video of a BEST bus driver holding an umbrella due to a leaking roof went viral on social media

Water pumped into rly area

CR officials at Sion found BMC pumps releasing accumulated water into the railway area along the arterial LBS Road leading to more flooding on the tracks. "We raised the matter with BMC engineers after which the pumps were set right," a senior official said.

A video of a BEST bus driver driving the bus using an umbrella over his head due to a leaking roof went viral on social media. BEST committee member Sunil Ganacharya deplored the incident questioning the condition of the wet-leased buses procured by the BEST.

A BEST spokesperson said that the video had been sent to the Backbay bus depot and that it was being investigated.