Downpour slows down commuters on road, affects local train services

Though no severe waterlogging was reported, commuters on both the Central and Western Railways (CR and WR) said trains were delayed throughout the day. The suburban rail was affected in the morning hours due to technical failures.

Mumbai: The city received 120mm of rain on Tuesday making it the second wettest day after July 7, when it got 125 mm of rain in a single day, according to the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) base weather station in Santacruz.

Mumbai, India - July 18, 2023 : Huge traffic on Western Express Highway due to Heavy Rainfall at Malad, in Mumbai, India, on Tuesday, July 18, 2023. (Photo by Vijay Bate/HT Photo)

The heavy downpour caused significant distress to commuters and threw life out of gear at many locations.

Though no severe waterlogging was reported, commuters on both the Central and Western Railways (CR and WR) said trains were delayed throughout the day. The suburban rail was affected in the morning hours due to technical failures.

“If we begin with the CR, then there were two failures reported during the first half of the day. The first one was around 7am when the engine of Lokmanya Tilak Terminus-Gorakhpur Express train experienced technical failure,” said Dr Shivraj Manaspure, chief PRO, Central Railway.

“The local trains were running via loop line in Atgaon and the rail traffic did not stop,” added Manaspure.

However, commuters complained that services were affected on the Kalyan-Kasara stretch for over an hour during which the trains were delayed by almost 30 minutes and some cancellations too were announced.

“The kalyan-Kasara stretch was affected for more than one hour. People were frustrated and finally at least one long distance train was given a halt between Kasara and Asangaon for local commuters to board,” said Shailesh Raut, president, Kalyan-Kasara Railway Passengers Association.

Later in the day, there was a points failure (a fault with the movable pieces of track) at Byculla which further disrupted the local train services. The points failure lasted around 25-30 minutes and was rectified.

On the WR, there was a points failure at Santacruz at around 9.55am. The officials said it was rectified by 10.20am. However, this led to delays in the running of trains by 10 to 15 minutes.

“The railways need to make announcements inside the train in case of any delays,” said K Verma, a commuter who boarded at Vile Parle station.

Traffic authorities, meanwhile, claimed that things were “normal” on the city roads, however. commuters complained of extremely slow traffic movement during the peak hours.

According to the officials, there was a vehicle breakdown on Vakola flyover and Elphinstone Road bridge that led to traffic snarls.

Incidentally, starting Tuesday, the Mumbai Traffic Police have rearranged traffic flow at Vile Parle towards airport.

Authorities barricaded the road below the flyover allowing the vehicles coming from the airport to pass without crisscrossing vehicles travelling on the north-bound road towards the airport.

Pravin Padwal, joint commissioner of police (traffic), said, “Earlier, near the flyover at T2 entrance, vehicles coming from the airport and those on the north-bound road created a traffic problem. So, we have placed barricades on the road below the flyover to ease traffic flow.”

Mumbai was initially placed under a ‘yellow’ category weather warning for Tuesday, but it was later upgraded to ‘orange’ category, indicating a more severe weather.

However, the city received just 16mm of rain — between 8:30am and 5:30pm — on Tuesday. The IMD officials said that the situation remains favourable for heavy downpours on Wednesday, for which the city remains under ‘orange’ alert.

The IMD on Tuesday said, “Isolated extremely heavy rainfall is likely over Konkan on July 19.”

“A low-pressure area has developed in southern Jharkhand and the neighbouring areas which has strengthened the offshore monsoon trough near Maharashtra,” said Sushma Nair, scientist with the IMD’s regional office in Mumbai.

“There is another cyclonic situation expected to form over Bay of Bengal soon, and this will enhance monsoon activity over the Konkan,” added Nair.

The intermittent wet spells and heavy showers have helped the city surge ahead of the normal rainfall amount until July 18. Since June 1, the city has received 1,306.6mm of rain, which is 22% more than normal — which stands at 1,067mm — during the same period.

In July alone, the city has got 757mm of rain, which is 43% more than the normal up to July 18, which is 430mm.

BOX:

Day of downpour

24-hour rainfall across Mumbai (as of Tuesday morning):

Santacruz — 119.9mm

Colaba — 106.0mm

Dahisar — 93mm

Ram-mandir — 82.5mm

Chembur — 70.5mm

Vidyavihar —106.5mm

Byculla —81.0mm

CSMT — 111.0mm

Matunga — 74.0mm

Sion — 91.0mm

Did you know?

Since June 1, the city has received 1,306.6mm of rain, which is 22% more than normal — which stands at 1,067mm — for the same period. In July, the city received 757mm of rain, which is 43% more than the normal — 430mm — up to July 18.