Train operations on the Pune-Mumbai route were thrown out-of-gear for more than two hours following a major landslide in the ghat section between Lonavla and Karjat at 12.50 am on Friday. So much so that some of the daily intercity trains ran late well into Friday morning owing to the mishap.
As per the information shared by the central railway (CR), a person on patrol saw a boulder falling in the ghat section at 12.50 am on Friday. Due to heavy rainfall, boulders and muck fell at km 111/800 on the ‘up’ line between the Nagnath-Palasdhari section at Lonavla and the ghat section at Karjat. The location is cutting of height 8 to 9 metre and in approach of tunnel number 26. “The patrol person on duty, Motiram Lobhi, saw the boulder falling and immediately protected the track. He took quick action and stopped one banker (loco) in the section by showing the red signal. Soon after, he called his higher-ups and informed about the incident,” said CR chief public relations officer Shivaji Sutar.
“Subsequently, a train carrying all the equipment including stone breakers and safety equipment was ordered for the restoration work. Till the restoration on the ‘up’ line was completed, all the mail express trains were diverted on the ‘mid’ line. Whereas the ‘up’ and ‘down’ rail traffic was running on two lines – the down line and mid line. The boulders that had fallen were big in size (around 1 to 2 metre) and were removed after splitting and restoration was completed at 8.15 am on Friday. Thereafter, the ‘up’ line was restarted,” said Sutar.
{{/usCountry}}“Subsequently, a train carrying all the equipment including stone breakers and safety equipment was ordered for the restoration work. Till the restoration on the ‘up’ line was completed, all the mail express trains were diverted on the ‘mid’ line. Whereas the ‘up’ and ‘down’ rail traffic was running on two lines – the down line and mid line. The boulders that had fallen were big in size (around 1 to 2 metre) and were removed after splitting and restoration was completed at 8.15 am on Friday. Thereafter, the ‘up’ line was restarted,” said Sutar.
{{/usCountry}}As only two lines were available instead of the usual three and also due to ghat banking locomotive movements, trains from Pune to Mumbai as also a few trains from Mumbai to Pune, were delayed by 30 minutes to one hour during the restoration work period. This was the first such major landslide in the ghat section on the railway tracks this year which impacted train operations.