Water shortage hits Mumbai railways as tanker strike disrupts supplies; relief expected soon

Railways have halted coach-cleaning operations amid the water crisis. REPRESENTATION PIC/ISTOCK

The indefinite strike called by the Mumbai Water Tanker Association (MWTA), which disrupted water supplies across the city, severely impacted Mumbai's railway network before being called off on Tuesday evening following successful negotiations with the Maharashtra government.

Long-distance trains originating faced water shortages, forcing the railways to halt coach-cleaning operations and shift emergency train-watering to stations well outside the municipal limits. The MWTA supplies up to 550 million litres per day (MLD) of water across Mumbai through a fleet of tankers that make multiple trips each day.

Officials confirmed a minimum 20 per cent deficit in daily requirements during the disruption. Water-intensive activities like automatic coach-washing plants were completely shut down to conserve existing reserves.

Dadar's unique crisis

Dadar Midtown Terminus is facing a different crisis - it remains the only major railway terminus without a single water connection from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), leaving it entirely exposed to the current standoff. While terminals like CSMT and Mumbai Central can fall back on partial municipal pipeline supplies, Dadar station stands as an anomaly. It receives zero municipal water supply from the BMC. Dadar relies on 48-50 private tankers per day to meet its baseline requirement of roughly 4,80,000 liters of water for its midtown operations and terminating trains.

Box Official Speak

"We have been writing to the BMC. But they have not yielded to requests. It is like depriving lakhs of commuters of water," said a railway official. "Without a single municipal tap to buffer the strike, the [Dadar] terminus is functioning purely on rapidly depleting internal storage tanks. The BMC has sent just one tanker to handle Dadar," said another official.

Operational impact

To prevent long-distance passengers from travelling in trains with dry toilets and empty reservoirs, Central and Western Railways have activated diversion plans. Train-watering operations - traditionally completed before a train pulls out of its originating Mumbai platform - are being outsourced to intermediate stations. While these alternative arrangements ensure trains do not leave the region dry, railway officials caution that detaining long-distance expresses at intermediate stations like Igatpuri or Surat solely for water filling could cause cascading delays across the timetables if the strike enters its third day.