Mumbai Rains: Central and Harbour line local trains suspended; BEST buses diverted due to water logging

Water logging at Sion railway station in Mumbai. Pics/Pradeep Dhivar

The local train services on Central and Harbour line came to a grinding halt on Wednesday as heavy rain lashed Mumbai. The Railway officials said that the services were stopped as a precautionary measure.

"Due to heavy rains in suburbs and water logging between Sion- Kurla, the train services between CSMT-Kurla have been suspended from 9.50 am as precautionary measures. Services on other sections are running," Central Railway chief public relations officer, Shivaji Sutar, said.

Sutar said the decision to stop trains has been taken to avoid any untoward incident and the traffic will resume as soon as water recedes.

Also Read: Mumbai, neighbouring areas receive heavy rainfall as monsoon arrives

"Due to heavy rain in suburbs and water logging at Chunabatti and between Sion- Kurla section, the train services on main line between CSMT-Thane have been suspended from 10.20 am as a precautionary measure," Sutar added.

On Harbour line, the services between CSMT-Vashi have been suspended from 10.20 am.

The Trains Harbour services and BSU (Uran) are running smoothly. Also, shuttle services between Thane and Karjat/Kasara and Vashi Panvel are running.

Meanwhile, road traffic was also diverted at several locations due to water logging. "Water logging at Mankhurd station in southbound direction on Sion-Panvel road. Buses of routes 501L, 502L, 504L, 505L, 506L, 521L, A-60 and A-372 have been diverted via Maharashtra nagar flyover bridge from 8.40 am. No water logging in the other direction," tweeted Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST).

The south-west monsoon arrived in Mumbai on Wednesday, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) announced as heavy rains lashed Mumbai and suburbs since early morning.

Water-logging was reported in some low-lying area. Several parts of the city and suburbs witnessed heavy rainfall along with thunder in the morning. According to the IMD, the Colaba observatory (representative of south Mumbai) received 77.4 mm rainfall, while the Santacruz observatory (representative of the suburbs) recorded 59.6 mm downpour in the last 24 hours.

"It's monsoon arrival in Mumbai today," said Dr Jayanta Sarkar, head of the IMD's Mumbai office.

As per the BMC, the island city, eastern suburbs and western suburbs recorded 48.49 mm, 66.99 mm and 48.99 mm rain, respectively, in the 24-hour period ending at 8 am on Wednesday.

The IMD has predicted cloudy sky with moderate rain/ thundershowers in the city and suburbs. There is also a possibility of heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places.