Out of the 76 locations prone to waterlogging between the Central Railway's (CR) Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and Kalyan/Panvel stations, the Railway authorities claim to have completed work on 50 of the locations and expect to complete work on another 19 locations by April 20.
At a joint meeting, the BMC had informed the CR that there are 36 waterlogging-prone locations between the stations that need attention. Apart from these, 15 culverts, which are major drainage systems that take water from east to west out of the rail system, also need to be widened. The work to improve nine of these will be over before the monsoon.
"We have asked IIT Bombay to study the condition of six culverts. If they submit the report soon then we will carry out the improvement work before the monsoon," said SK Jain, Divisional Railway Manager (Mumbai), CR.
The study mainly comprises of ways to ensure that water bypasses the tracks as it flows below them without getting logged. It also includes solutions to create arms for the culverts to ensure more openings.
The authorities have also started removing muck and instead of dumping it at the Mankhurd-Vashi creek, they are using it for earthwork and levelling purposes in their projects. An alternate site for dumping has also been identified at Mankhurd which is away from mangroves.
FIRST TIME
- The CR authorities will place at least two huge water pumps that can flush out 1,000 cubic metres of water per hour.
- According to CR officials, these have five times the capacity of regular water pumps that are usually placed on the tracks every year during the monsoon.
