Mumbai gets break from downpour, WR's suburban services resume

Mumbaikars got some much-needed relief today as heavy rains took a break and the suburban train services, including those on the Western line, resumed functioning.

The local train services were badly affected on a section of the Western Railway (WR) yesterday due to inundation of the tracks.

The road traffic was moving smoothly after four days of heavy rains, which had crippled life in the mega city.

In just 10 days, the city received 864.5 mm rain, which is nearly equal to what it gets in an entire month, the MeT department said.

The local trains, considered the lifeline of Mumbai, had been suspended between Nallasopara and Virar stations on the Western line yesterday.

"We started our services from Churchgate (in South Mumbai) to Dahanu Road (in Palghar district) this morning with a speed restriction between Bhayander and Virar stations where water level did not permit us to run the trains at the regular speed," a senior railway official said.

"The speed restriction resulted in cancellation of 130 suburban trains. Fifteen long-distance trains of the Western Railway were also cancelled," the official said.

Nineteen express trains had to be short-terminated (terminated on an earlier station) while four express trains were partially cancelled.

The Central Railway's local train services on its main line and harbour line were running late by 5 to 10 minutes today, a CR spokesperson said.

The heavy downpour yesterday had caused flooding at Vasai, Nallasopara and Virar stations, leading to cancellation of many long-distance trains.

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), police and fire brigade personnel had rescued 2,000 passengers of Shatabdi Express and Vadodara Express.

Meanwhile, Mumbai suburban guardian minister Vinod Tawde will be returning to the city from Nagpur, where he was attending the Legislative Assembly session, to review the situation in the mega city following heavy rains.

Since the onset of monsoon, Mumbai has so far received almost 60 per cent of its required annual rainfall, the MeT department said. The weather department has forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall in the city and its neighbouring areas till Saturday.

Mumbai BJP president Ashish Shelar demanded that the BMC start efforts to take measures to prevent flooding at all the flood-prone spots in the city.

The BMC said in a press release that it has fixed nets over 1,425 open manholes, and embarked on a work to eliminate all 225 flood-prone spots. This work will be completed in the coming 12 to 18 months, it said.