Mumbai Rains Day 3: Public transport back on track

Civic workers inspect a flooded subway near Mankhurd station on Thursday. Pics/ Sameer Markande

Even as heavy rainfall continued across the state for the third consecutive day, the public transport system seemed to be in a better condition on Thursday. While trains and BEST buses have been running well, despite a number of diversions, the Konkan Railway services got affected after a portion of a tunnel wall caved in at Pernem. However, a 27-year-old railway employee died from electric shock at Masjid Bunder while trying to check a BMC water pump.

Speaking to mid-day, Central Railway's chief PRO, Shivaji Sutar, said, "Post 8 am, all the services were running well. We are taking extraordinary precautions this time." At Masjid Bunder, trackman Sanjeet Kumar got an electric shock after he came down from the road over bridge on the eastern side and stepped into stagnant water to inspect a water pump around 2:45 am. Pump operator Kamlesh was accompanying him but he didn't sustain any injuries in the incident. Sanjeet collapsed on the spot and was immediately rushed to Bombay Hospital where he was declared dead. Western Railway chief PRO, Sumit Thakur said, "The suburban services have been running normally, except on the slow corridor between Mumbai Central and Churchgate, due to some technical glitches. Trains were being diverted from Mumbai Central on the slow corridor, but on the fast corridor, they were running up to Churchgate."

BEST spokesperson, Manoj Varade said there were no route diversions on Thursday and the situation was definitely better than the day before. "We ran about 2,897 buses and a total of 29 breakdowns happened," he added.

Also Read: Mumbai Rains: Several SoBo buildings went without power till afternoon on Aug 6

A portion of the Pernem tunnel wall collapsed on August 6

Meanwhile, a Konkan Railway official said, "The railways are working round-the-clock to fix the tunnel issue and restore normalcy." Giving further details, he said inside Pernem tunnel the tracks got damaged after a portion of the wall caved-in. An official statement said, "Due to heavy rain in the last 24 hours, the tunnel wall between Madure and Pernem station of Karwar region collapsed at 2:50 am on August 6. Traffic in this section has been suspended till further notice. No casualties or injuries have been reported."

Also, MSRTC officials said about 22 buses, arranged for commuters travelling in view of Ganeshotsav, that could not leave on August 5, were scheduled to leave on August 6. They also said that 400 buses had been kept ready for the Ganpati crowd till August 12 and each of them would ferry 22 passengers.

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