Continued to run services despite heavy rains: Central Railway

The Central Railway continued its services till late night on July 1 despite the unprecedented heavy rainfall of 400 mm in Mumbai in the past 24 hours, a press release by the orgsation on Tuesday said.

"After 10.30 pm on July 1, there was a sudden and very heavy downpour leading to an unprecedented rainfall of nearly 400 mm in 24 hours which combined with the high tide lead to waterlogging in Kurla-Thane section of Central Railway. In spite of all odds, Central Railway continued its services till late night in order to ensure most of our commuters reached back home safely," the press release read.

About the operations which happened on July 1, it read, "There were 32 rakes including 16 on Up slow line between Kurla and Thane, 11 on Down slow line between Parel and Vikhroli, 5 on Down fast line between Dadar and Bhandup and few long-distance trains on 5th and 6th lines which were held up due to incessant rains and low visibility. Immediately, the on-field officers assessed the situation and efforts were made to evacuate the passengers in these trains. A total of 1600 staff including 400 from engineering, 600 from signal and telecommunications, 400 from RPF and 200 from the electrical department were on job to assess and take necessary action on the field. Continuous announcements were made at stations about the situation."

The press release added that the Railway authority had been instructed by Minister of Railways, Piyush Goyal to ensure the safety of the commuters.

"Minister of Railways, Piyush Goyal instructed Railways to keep a close watch, especially on services and arrangements for the safety of commuters. He was in constant touch with the senior railway officials and was taking stock of the situation," it added.

A K Gupta, GM, CR & WR along with senior officers were in the Divisional control room during the night closely monitoring and supervising the evacuation of stranded passengers and their safety.

Drinking water, Tea, snacks, biscuits were provided to the passengers who were held up at stations and in trains by the RPF, Commercial and other railway station staff.

The passengers from the stranded trains were evacuated to the nearest stations like Tilak Nagar, Kurla, Vidyavihar, Ghatkopar, Kanjurmarg, Bhandup, Thane.

"To avoid further bunching of suburban rakes in the above section and in view of forecast given by IMD for very heavy rainfall on July 2, coupled with high tide of 4.5 meters, the Central Railway took conscious decision to not operate services in the morning of July 2 between these chronic and vulnerable sections as a precautionary measure, more so in view of holiday declared by State Government," the release read.

The Central Railways decided to run services only on selected lines on the morning of July 2.

Passengers were informed through press releases and social media bulletins constantly.

54 long-distance trains were short terminated and 27 trains were canceled on account of very heavy rains in Mumbai area. Many trains were rescheduled to leave Mumbai as trains were cleared of the section.

( With inputs from ANI )