Mumbai: This 45-feet drain brought Central Railway to halt; watch video

The drain between Bhandup and Nahur railway stations, which is being widened, on Thursday. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

Doubling the width of a 45-foot-wide drain inadvertently brought trains on Central Railway (CR) to a grinding halt for three hours on Wednesday. Ongoing drain-widening works taken up by the BMC between Bhandup and Nahur led to the narrowing down of the waterway, causing flooding on the tracks. Due to the disruption, 35 mail express trains were affected on the up and down lines.

Meanwhile, 40 suburban locals were impacted on the main line. The main drain is being widened to more than 90 feet and two adjoining drains are also being widened. A road passing in the east of the railway line over these very drains as a bridge is also being constructed. When mid-day visited the spot, the area was a mess of open drains filled with debris while labourers toiled in scattered groups. A temporary bridge that had been built earlier on a diverted road has been demolished. The waterways near Bhandup are the main channel to the Airoli creek which is a bed of mangroves that connects to the Arabian Sea.

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A network of drains crossing from west to east under the six tracks of the railway network remained clogged due to debris, causing water to accumulate in the low-lying rail network. These water drains are double the width of highways with eight lanes, but get narrow beneath the road parallel to the railway track, leading to flooding. The drain network is situated near VK Menon College in Bhandup in the east and Usha Nagar in the west. In July, a similar situation was witnessed at the same spot.

Following this, a committee had been set up with railway and BMC officials to investigate the issue. But there has been no development since then.
Railway officials said that four pumps had been placed at Bhandup to drain out water, but there was so much water everywhere that there was no place to drain out anywhere as all the water kept coming back.

‘We have taken steps'

Dr Swapnil Nila, CPRO of Central Railways (CR) said, "Every system can be operated up to a maximum limit. We have taken many corrective actions to improve the system, especially in areas with difficult terrains, natural and historical drainage patterns and old infrastructure in Mumbai's suburban section," he stated. He explained that CR can handle rainfall of up to 100 mm per hour which is 40 per cent above the regular rainfall in the area but anything more than that in an hour complicates operations significantly and reduces the clearance of the water.

The drain between Bhandup and Nahur railway stations, which is being widened, on Thursday. Pics/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

"In such cases, we face the need for longer traffic blocks, which are difficult to implement in Mumbai due to the city's dense network," he said, adding that on Wednesday night, train services were suspended for some time between Kurla and Thane on the main line, as well as between Mankhurd and Vikhroli on the harbour line, due to an unexpected deluge of approximately 200 mm in just one hour.

‘Can't compare CR, WR'

When questioned about the continued operation of Western Railway (WR) suburban services, Dr Nila clarified that the two systems cannot be directly compared due to differing topographies. "Our system is heavily impacted by low-lying areas and traditional flow systems with surrounding slums, where stormwater directly flows onto the tracks," he explained. Regarding the Kurla-Thane section's increased vulnerability to flooding, he said that upgrades were underway.

"We are continuously enhancing our drainage systems using micro-tunnelling methods and pumps to evacuate water at several locations. But when there are excessive rains, the systems become inadequate because of the increased water levels at all the exit points also," he added, highlighting ongoing efforts to improve resilience against such extreme weather conditions.

Abhijit Bangar, additional municipal commissioner, meanwhile, told mid-day that a team of civic officials would visit the Usha Nagar nullah in Bhandup, which has been overflowing. "The stormwater drain department team has already started working on the issue. They will visit the spot and identify the problem soon," he said.