CR train services suspended for over 4 hours in Mumbai

For lakhs of suburban commuters, train journey became an ordeal on Saturday, after the overflowing Mithi river rose over the danger mark and submerged Central Railway’s (CR) all six tracks

For lakhs of suburban commuters, train journey became an ordeal on Saturday, after the overflowing Mithi river rose over the danger mark and submerged Central Railway’s (CR) all six tracks (four on the main line and two on the Harbour line), for several hours.

CR had elevated the tracks in the section before monsoon, in order to avoid flooding.(Hindustan Times)

While on the main line the tracks were submerged between Sion and Kurla stations, on Harbour line they were submerged between Chunabhatti and Kurla.

After the water level rose over eight inches above the tracks, CR first suspended services between Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) and Vashi stations around 1.35pm and between CSMT-Thane at1.45pm. Services were suspended for around four hours. In Thane, a large number of commuters were stranded at the railway station for three hours as services were hit.

While CSMT-Thane services resumed around 5.15pm, Harbour line services were fully restored around 7.50pm. CR services had been hit since early morning and were running more than 30 minutes late.

“Due to the overflowing of Mithi, there was waterlogging reported on tracks near Kurla station as the river rose to the danger mark of 3.6 metres,” said Manish Valanju, assistant municipal commissioner of L-ward. CR claimed that even after the rain stopped, water was flowing back to the tracks instead of receding. “Some particular sections were disrupted, primarily due to high rainfall along with high tide resulting in backflow of Mithi river near Kurla and Sion area,” said Sunil Udasi, chief spokesperson of CR.

CR had elevated the tracks in this section before monsoon, in order to avoid flooding. It also deployed heavy-duty pumps of 32 to 50 horsepowers. However, they did not seem to be of much use.

Some local and outstation trains that had stopped midway on CR were stranded for over five hours, starting from 1.30pm. Passengers were forced to jump outside and walk on tracks. In contrast with CR, local services on WR were normal with some delay throughout the day.