The landslide at Igatpuri that knocked off Central Railway's Kasara-Nashik rail route for all of Wednesday right up till the wee hours of Thursday might have been caused by man-made issues rather than just heavy rain in the area.
This is the prima facie conclusion that CR engineers have come up with after visiting the site, which is 132km away from CST and about four kilometres from Igatpuri. Some of these officials, speaking on condition of anonymity as the report on the landslide is not yet formalised, said construction in the area and the presence of a heavily-patronised resort on top of the hillock adjoining the tracks, where the landslide occurred, could have been catalysts.
"It is too early to say but we believe this resort and the extensive construction that has gone into it could have progressively loosened the sides of the hillock. Of course, several technical tests will have to be done before we can jump to any conclusion," said a top-ranking CR official.
The official added that the intensity of the landslide could be gauged from the fact that the mud and boulder, which came crashing down, not only filled up a drain running 15 feet below the tracks but also covered the tracks in close to three metres of muck.
Another called it a pretty much Sandhurst Road-like situation, where some days earlier the retaining wall along the sides of an old building had started giving way. Parts of the wall in that case collapsed on two consecutive days and CR had to then put pressure on Brihamumbai Municipal Corporation and Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority to have the building — Thorat House — pulled down.
Officials said the situation in stretches like Igatpuri is expected to worsen in the coming years as construction activity for recreational structures goes up. "Igatpuri is among the most beautiful places around and, in the years to come, these hillocks will sport more such resorts. This only increases the dangers for the railway track running below," said an official.
On Wednesday, thousands of passengers were stranded on different stretches of CR after the sides of a hillock fell on the tracks close to Igatpuri station. The landslide infringed two of the three lines and led to massive delay for all trains coming into and going out of the city. Against a normal movement of 160 trains on the route, officials said close to 10 trains ran on Wednesday.
The route was cleared at 3am on Thursday and complete normalisation happened around 7.30am, added officials.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}