Mudslides and falling boulders haunt Central Railway, hit rail traffic

Over the last couple of days, there have been mud and landslides on rail tracks on the Kalyan-Igatpuri/Khopoli sections affecting rail traffic. On Thursday, a mudslide happened on Kasara-Igatpuri section. "It did not have any effect on rail services," said a Central Railway official. It was away from the usual rail line used by long-distance trains.

A similar incident took place on July 8 as well on Karjat-Lonavala section. In this year's Budget, the Central Railway has allotted money for building steel nets around the boulders and fencing them properly.

The one which happened on July 8 was uglier. It caused severe problems to train services after boulders fell on Karjat-Lonavala section. "Along with boulders there were 150 cubic meters of muck on the middle line between Thakurwadi and Monkey Hill," said Sunil Udasi, Chief PRO, Central Railway.

It took the CR authorities 14 hours to clear the tracks. One boulder of the size of 2 meters in length, 1.5 meters width and 1.2 meters in height fell on down track bending the rail and thereby rendering both middle and down line unsafe.

Boulder special train reached the site at 5 pm and the down line was operational by 6 pm. Removing the boulders and muck from the middle line was more challenging and after manually removing the boulders and muck the middle track was declared safe at 4.55 am on July 9. It took more than 100 workers for clearing it.

Meanwhile, the budget for Indian Railways has made arrangement to address these issues of the mudslide that happens every monsoon. On the Kasara-Igatpuri section, a sum of Rs 25 lakh has been allotted for putting protective netting and bolting of boulders on the face of the tunnel and vulnerable locations. Similarly, on the Monkey Hill-Thakurwadi section, Rs 50 lakh has been provided for addressing rockfall using a technology wherein it would be secured after draping the rocks and boulders with geo-composite steel mesh.