Mumbai rains: After showers disrupt trains, CR, TMC fire fight under floodwater

The first round of water logging on railway tracks occurred at Thane and Kalwa above stations where water rose four feet above the tracks as there was no place for it to drain out PICSneha KharabeIn Mumbai when it rains it pours on the civic and railway authorities lack of preparedness Train services were disrupted on the Central Railway CR hours after heavy showers hit the city but CR was quick to blame the Thane Municipal Corporation TMC for the flooding saying it had happened because the civic body had set up a cement mixing plant at Kalwa As for TMC it has decided to conduct repairs on war footing with CR to curb future flooding at Kalwa and Kharegaon stationsThe first round of water logging on railway tracks occurred at Thane and Kalwa stations where water rose four feet above the tracks as there was no place for it to drain outFurther disruptionThere were already 30 per cent lesser services as per the Sunday timetable but the water logging led to further disruption The services were suspended on the slow line between Thane and Dombivli twice But gradually they were restored said Sunil Udasi chief PRO CR The slow line between Thane and Dombivli was suspended for two and a half hours in the morningThe first service was suspended between 530 630 am and the second time it was suspended from 810 am to 945 am on this route People were seen waiting for the trains at Thane Diva Kalwa on the slow line as CR authorities diverted them on the fast line between Mulund and Diva stationsConcrete accusationCR officials said there was water logging at Thane station near platform 2 which is low lying While the railway drains had been cleaned the heavy rains still proved too much for them which ended up affecting the next station Kalwa as well CR pointed fingers at TMC for creating the problem The water logging occurred due to a ready mix concrete plant and because of raising and widening of a concrete road there by TMC This resulted in obstruction of natural flow of water which led to water logging on rail lines and nearby areas said a CR officialLater rail authorities asked TMC to create an alternate drainage and diversion for the water This has happened despite several checks over the last two months on rail lines before monsoonSurveying the floodingMeanwhile officials from both CR and TMC came to these stations to monitor and control the situation A joint survey was conducted by Sunil Chavan additional municipal commissioner TMC along with Ravindra Kumar Goel assistant divisional railway manager and Rizwan Ahmed senior divisional railway engineerThe team first visited the railway tracks near Kharegaon and Kalwa and found the small culvert a structure that allows water to flow under a railroad or train as the reason behind the flooding on railway tracksAlong with the railways we visited the spot and cleared the issue Since we had concretised our road we had made the culvert bigger so that the water flows properly through it But the small culvert on the railway side was not properly balancing the flow of water because of which water was getting stored on the tracks and letting the city water in said ChavanAll in confusionThe survey lasted for three hours after which the officials decided to do the repair work We have decided to do joint work where both the expenses will be done equally We will do a micro turning and drilling process and increase the size of the culvert on the railway side The work will be done on war footing and completed within eight days added ChavanChavan also claimed CR tweeted in confusion and blamed TMC for the floodwater When we visited the spot for more than three hours on Sunday morning they accepted the confusion and claimed that their public relation officer tweeted without any conformation We also visited the Thane station area towards CST where we have to demolish some encroachments and clean the drains again We provided a JCB to the railways for the cleaning process