Don't act on any rumours during monsoon season: Western Railway CPRO

The monsoon season has arrived in Mumbai and the Western Railway claims that it is well prepared to tackle the Mumbai rains But is the Railway bodys claim true Will trains run on time during the Mumbai rains A recent incident just a couple of days before the onset of monsoon involving the closure of the Bandra East skywalk left Western Railway commuters high and dry The timing of the repair work raised doubts about the preparedness of the Western railwaysTo get answers to all our questionswe stopped over at the office of the Chief Public Relations Officer CPRO in Churchgate to have a quick chat with Mr Ravinder Bhakar the CPRO in chargeBefore meeting the CPRO a quick walk through the suburban railway track gave us a proper perspective of the work that has been done the railway tracks have been lifted and new additions made to the armoury of the suburban rail services As part of preparedness major drains have been desilted and loads of muck removed from the railway tracks to ensure flooding does not take place on tracks during rain heavy daysRavinder Bhakar took charge as the Chief Public Relations Officer PRO of Western Railway in 2016 Bhakar who is a mechanical engineer from MNIT Jaipur has been employed with the Indian Railways for the last 19 yearsAlso ReadHeroes of Mumbai Ambulance drivers battle Mumbai traffic to save one life at a timeHere are excerpts from the interview with theChief PRO of Western RailwayWhat activities have the railways undertaken this year to tackle the monsoonSeveral new initiatives have been put in place by the Western Railway as part of the preparedness for monsoon this year In consultation with IIT Mumbai we conducted a hydrological survey especially at the VirarNalasopara section to check the topography and the path of the free flow of the stormwater In addition we also conducted an aerial survey of the same section to ascertain the constraints for the free flow of the stormwaterWatch the video hereAlmost one lakh seventy thousand cubic meter muck has been removed from the suburban section by running the muck special trains by deploying heavy machines like GCBsSo as far as the first phase is concerned our preparations are almost completed We have already done the joint inspection with the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai MCGMand other concerned municipal bodiesOverone lakh seventy thousand cubic meter muck has been removed from the railway tracksA lot of premonsoon infrastructure worksuch as the Metro construction FoB bridge repairsin Mumbai has still not finished How big is the challenge for the railways to tackle crowd during Mumbai monsoonI agree a lot of infrastructure works including the Mumbai Metro work and the coastal road project is going on In addition to that in our stations and platforms also many infrastructure augmentation work is underway like the building of new FOBs installation of new escalators lifts etc We have realised that crowd management is a big challenge for Western Railway this monsoon for which we have already made preparationsMock drills have been conducted at almost 12 stations we are totally prepared with our announcement system and with our crowd management system Our security staff will be in full alert at the vulnerable stations where there is high footfall and especially where major infrastructure works are going onHeavyduty diesel and electric pumps are installed for the free flow of stormwaterAre there any floodprone zones on the Western Railway tracks If yes what are the adequate measure that Western Railway has taken to tackle those floodprone zones on railway tracksThere are few lowlying areas which we have identified such as Grant Road Prabhadevi Dadar Matunga BandraMahim section and also VirarNalasopra section Last year we faced problems due to the slow flow of the stormwater especially in the VasaiVirarNalasopara area So this year we have constructed three additional underground drains in these sections for the free flow of stormwater In addition to this the track upliftment has been done at Mahim Bandra area and BandraKhar portion of the harbour line as well which was a problem area last year So all necessary precautions have already been taken to avoid interruptions in the operations of the train during the monsoon seasonWe have also installed 160 heavyduty diesel and electric pumps for fast drainage and free flow of the stormwater so that the water is drained out quickly from the tracks and train operations are not disruptedThe Bandra East FOB towards Bandra station was shut down recently by the BMC What are the precautionsInitiatives Western Railway is undertaking to ensure that commuters dont suffer from such incidentsThe Bandra skywalk is closed by MCGM at various other stations also we are undertaking some of the footoverbridges FOBs for reconstruction and restrengthening In such situations definitely crowd management is challenging so in order to manage the crowd during the morning and evening peak hours we will be deploying additional staff The loudspeakers will be used to make announcements so that no untoward incident takes places on these stationsAutomatic Rain Guage systemOn days when rains will be heavy what kind of facilities are you planning to ensure commuters are not inconveniencedDuring the monsoon period from June 1 to September 30 we have prepared a special booklet for our staff The book will have the dates of the high tides and heavy rainfall days So our staff will be on full alert mode on these particular days We will also be monitoring the rainfall situation in realtime thanks tothe Automatic Rain Gauge System which we have installed recentlyIn association with the Indian Meteorological Department IMD this year Western Railway has installed the Automatic Rain Gauge ARG station at six locations of Western Railway The six stations include Ram Mandir Bandra Bhayandar Mahim Mahalaxmi Mira Road and DahisarAlso ReadMumbai locals wont stop running in heavy rains says Western Railway top boss Anil Kumar GuptaAre there any helpline number or special trains that Western Railway will run this year for commutersWe will be adhering to the normal timetable during the monsoon season But in case there are disruptions to clear the extra rush we will definitely run special trains To ensure that communication is seamless we will communicate with the commuters via several modes such as through our social media handles Twitter and Facebook we are also issuing regular bulletins special announcements are made on the stations so that the commuters are well aware of the situationWould you like to advise the commuters on what they should do to make their commute safe and convenientI will request the commuters to keep a watch on our social media handles and listen to the station announcement and dont act on any rumours which usually come during this period Also wehave prepared various instructions which will be passed on and communicated to the commuters through our social media channels print media TV channels etcAlso ReadHeroes of Mumbai Railway Gangmen put their lives at risk to keep local trains runningCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates