Heavy Mumbai rain disrupts local train services, dabbawalas suspend work
Suburban train services remained suspended on a section of the Western Railway today due to waterlogging on tracks as heavy rain continues to lash the metropolis, an official said.
The services remained suspended between Nallasopara and Virar stations for the entire day, causing huge inconvenience to daily train commuters who travel on the busy western line.
However, train services between suburban Churchgate and Borivli stations of the Western Railway operated normally.
A total of 150 suburban services remained cancelled today, an official said.
"Since sunday night, over 200 mm rainfall has been recorded. This has led to water logging on railway tracks and keeping in view passengers' safety, train services have been stopped till the water level on the tracks recedes," a railway official said.
The WR monday announced cancellation of 11 express trains during July 10 to July 13 because of waterlogging on tracks, while Central Railway (CR) announced cancellation of five mail trains from July 10 to July 11, as per the statements issued by both the railways.
Around 2,000 passengers of two Mumbai-bound trains, that got stuck between Nallasopara and Vasai stations of the Western Railway due to waterlogging this morning, were rescued by the NDRF and the police.
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the police and fire brigade personnel rescued all the 2,000 passengers of Shatabdi Express and Vadodara Express, a Palghar district official said.
Palghar district residential collector Navnath Jare told PTI: "Water level between Nallasopara and Vasai stations rose to more than two metre due to heavy rain and a high tide monday morning."
A WR spokesperson said about 450 passengers were rescued by a team of the NDRF from Vadodara Express alone.
"All evacuated passengers were taken to Nallasopara railway station, from where buses were arranged for their transportation," he said.
Suburban services running on Central and Harbour line got delayed due to waterlogging on tracks.
Interestingly, many commuters had sunday hailed the Central Railway for providing uninterrupted services despite heavy torrential rain that has been lashing Mumbai for the last three days.
Monday, passengers complained of delays up to three hours in reaching their desired destinations as trains crawled on water filled tracks.
"My local train commute from Ghatkopar to CSMT became a nightmare for me today. It took me nearly three hours to reach CSMT from Ghatkopar, which is otherwise a journey of around 35-40 minutes," a commuter said.
He said he ventured out of his home as announcements were made at railway stations that trains were normal.
Mumbai's dabbawalas also suspended their services on Monday.
"We did not collect tiffins today, because of the water logging across the city. Our people find it hard to wade through knee-deep water on their cycles," Mumbai Dabbawalas' Association's spokesperson Subhash Talekar said. PTI
