Railways on fast lane to rid Mahim tracks of muck

Illegal slums and garbage heaps beside rail tracks are proving to be a dampener for the Railways, which wants to make optimum use of the space available under its facilities. The dire situation at Mahim where a train derailed on October 2 is a case in point. The Western Railway, since then has been working day and night to get rid of the garbage lying on tracks, and also to make provisions for utilising all four lines that were meant to stable trains at night. In fact, it’s also contemplating enforcing levying of a Rs 500 fine under Section 198 of Railway Act, 1989 on those (read slum dwellers) caught dumping such garbage.

Sources said over the past two-three days — once the derailment site was rectified — it has been trying to weed out garbage, faeces, muck and scores of plastic lying on this stretch close to Mahim railway station. “In the past couple of days, we have managed to collect and remove over 4,000 cubic metres of garbage and muck. Our gangmen and trackmen are working day and night as part of this drive, which shall continue for a few more days,” said an official from Western Railway (WR).

At the site, the workers were seen removing garbage and filth from under the tracks which had submerged with ballasts and stones. All this while train schedule remained normal on the Harbour line. The WR officials are also carrying out a drive to educate and inform people staying in nearby slums not to throw garbage on rail premises and/or defecate. This comes at a time when the Centre is claiming the entire country to be open-defecation free.

To make things worse, slums have now encroached rail tracks which were meant for parking trains at night. A senior WR official, who was at the site of the derailment, said on condition of anonymity: “These three-four stabling lines are going more or less unused. We are not able to stable more than a rake as there are slums encroached on this land right on tracks. We have been informing the state government, but it’s yet to be proactive in removing them.”

Even as the stabling lines next to Mahim station are getting buried in garbage, weeds, grass and muck, the authorities are planning to demolish unused platforms on the Harbour line, so as to shift the tracks to park more trains at night, provided the encroachments are removed.

On October 2, four wheels of a CSMT-Bandra train derailed between Kings Circle and Mahim stations. A committee has been formed to investigate the reasons behind this derailment. The authorities say, prima facie, the accumulated garbage and muck are to be blamed for insufficient cleaning and maintenance of rail assets at Mahim.