With pre-monsoon work at Sion-Kurla pending, CR to place more water pumps

Journey for 37-lakh commuters of Central Railway (CR) might be smooth during the monsoons because the authorities claim to have completed a major portion of work on cleaning drains and raising the height of tracks.

Journey for 37-lakh commuters of Central Railway (CR) might be smooth during the monsoons because the authorities claim to have completed a major portion of work on cleaning drains and raising the height of tracks. However, they are wary the stretch between Sion and Kurla, where work is still pending and could affect train services.

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The culvert below the tracks – that allows drain water to flow from one end to the other – has not yet been cleaned. Sion is one of the prime locations where water-logging affects train services. CR sources said they are planning to place more water pumps at Sion near the drains to pump out water from tracks because work might not be complete before monsoon.

“We will clean all the culverts that are under our jurisdiction, but we will check the status at Sion. We will also provide Rs two crore to the railways for cleaning it on their property,” said LS Vhatkar, chief engineer, Storm Water Drain.

The CR is planning to install 17 water pumps across the suburban section namely in areas like Mazgaon, Sewri, Parel, Curry Road, Masjid, Thane, Wadala, Mulund, Byculla, Sion and Kurla at a cost of Rs30 lakh. “We will place more pumps depending on the situation,” said MC Chauhan, divisional railway manager, CR. They also expect water pumps from the BMC for assistance.

In the last two years, the height of tracks ranging nearly 50 km has been raised. This helps in preventing water logging during moderate showers. Some of these stations where work has been completed are Mulund, King Circle, Bhandup and Dadar.

This year, CR officials said important stretches between Parel and Dadar will remain unaffected after the Western Railway lowered their tracks at Elphinstone Road only a month ago. This was done for completion of power conversion from 1,500-volt Direct Current to 25,000-volt Alternating Current.