Western Railway gets rain-ready with new drainage systems

For the first time ever, the Western Railway has done two things. First, they have used tunnel boring machines — the one used for tunnelling metro railway — for creating drainage systems. Apart from this, WR has used drones for the first time to inspect the entire stretch between Vasai and Virar.

They are installing massive 1,800mm diameter of drains that are almost 2 meters below the surface. These are namely between Vasai and Virar stretch which was a matter of concern last monsoon due to the deluge. In fact, on Saturday, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis held a monsoon preparedness meeting where the Western Railway (WR) authorities presented the same.

In all, there will be three such huge tunnels going east-west. These will be between Virar-Nalasopara, Vasai-Nalasopara and Goregaon-Malad railway stations. At present work on Vasai-Nalasopara drainage is underway while the remaining two are ready to tackle the heavy rains. At each of these locations, there will be two huge pipes running parallel.

"The third drain will be ready by June 10. We started this work earlier this year after a detailed study. For the first time we have used micro-tunnelling and tunnel boring machine for drilling a 1,800mm drain passing below rail lines," said a WR official.

The longest one is between Virar-Nalasopara at 90 meters, followed by the one at Vasai-Nalasopara at 60 meters and the Goregaon drains will be 45 meters in length. All of these are 1.5-2 meters below the surface. Apart from this, the WR also surveyed the rivers and creeks starting from Bhayander all the way till Vaitarna.

This was done after cleaning these creeks, removing muck and blockage from the existing drains which were quite narrow as well. "We used drones to inspect the entire stretch," added the WR official. The railways are also placing rain gauge machines, created additional side drains next to tracks and raised the level of tracks between Vasai and Virar railway stations.

Apart from these, work on other major nullahs at Dharavi, Chamdavadi (Bandra East), Mithi, Poisar and Dahisar were also inspected. The officials claim that least work has been done at Dharavi by the civic body.

WORK IN PROGRESS

• Western Railway is installing massive 1,800mm diameter of drains that are almost 2 meters below the surface
• In all, there will be three tunnels 
• These will be between Virar-Nalasopara, Vasai-Nalasopara and Goregaon-Malad