The Railways had to take the fall for a job given to the BMC. A report in this paper yesterday stated how on June 28, the Western Railway (WR) services were down during the evening rush hour after a tree collapsed on the overhead wires and caught fire.

WR had foreseen this, and had asked BMC to trim that same tree at least a month in advance. In a series of pre-monsoon meetings between WR and BMC, railway authorities requested the civic body to trim around 240 trees within 10 meters of the train tracks. Yet, BMC said it trimmed only 12 trees. After heavy rains, a tree collapsed on the overhead wire equipment (OHE) cable between Lower Parel and Mahalaxmi stations and then burst into flames. Several trains were cancelled, while others ran up to 30 minutes late, inconveniencing lakhs of peak hour commuters.