The monsoons have finally hit Maharashtra, much to the relief of the drought-hit state. A day after the first rain, the state’s capital Mumbai received heavy rainfall on Tuesday, and not unlike any other year, the suburban Railway services have taken a hit.
For the second day in a row, the trains were severely delayed, while some were cancelled. The heavy rain and subsequent waterlogging crippled the movement of the trains, which caters to lakhs of commuters, who travel into the city everyday from beyond Mumbai.
At Diva station, due to unavailability of space on the platform, passengers came onto the tracks in protest. The Railway Protection Force authorities were deployed to prevent any “untoward incident”, said an official.
Additionally, there were warnings of a landslide near Parsik tunnel near Mumbra, which affected the services of the Central Railway line. The delay resulted in bunching up of trains on the Central track.
We were keeping our passengers informed through all possible media, including social media, FM radio and electronic media about the situation.AK Jain, Central Railway’s Senior PRO.
On Monday too, the local train services of Western Railways were disrupted for nearly an hour following power failure caused by theft of a battery box at Mahim station.
Though the trains are now running, commuters are certain this is not the end of their woes this monsoon season. Every year when the monsoons hit, commuters are left stranded as the city doesn’t seem prepared enough for the torrential rains. The streets and the railway tracks are waterlogged, bringing the city that never sleeps to a standstill.
(With inputs from PTI.)
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