Mumbai, Jul 8 (PTI) After a brief respite, heavy rains accompanied by thunder returned to Mumbai on Wednesday morning, delaying local train services and causing inconvenience to office-goers.
Long-distance
train services towards Gujarat remained disrupted due to waterlogging in the Vasai-Virar section in neighbouring Palghar district and at several locations in south Gujarat. Operations on the Mumbai–Pune route were also yet to be fully restored following landslides in the Bhor Ghat section on Monday.
Videos showed long queues of passengers wading through flooded tracks using mobile phone flashlights even after midnight following suspension of suburban services beyond Vasai Road in Palghar on Tuesday evening.
Tulsi lake, one of the seven reservoirs supplying drinking water to Mumbai, started overflowing late at night following heavy rainfall in its catchment area, hours after the nearby Vihar lake overflowed, civic officials said.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast intermittent light to moderate rainfall in the city and suburbs during the day.
Local train services, considered the lifeline of Mumbai, on both the Central Railway and Western Railway networks were running late by 25 to 30 minutes, while Metro and public bus services operated normally.
Suburban services on a section of the Central Railway (CR) network were delayed after ballast beneath the tracks was washed away between Neral and Shelu stations in neighbouring Raigad district due to heavy rainfall in the early hours.
The ballast washout near Neral station was noticed at around 4 am. Both tracks were attended to immediately and train services resumed before 6.15 am, CR Chief Public Relations Officer Swapnil Nila told PTI.
Restoration work in the Bhor Ghat section between Karjat and Lonavala stations was still underway following the landslide earlier this week, he said. As a result, several long-distance trains have been diverted, cancelled or short-terminated.
Western Railway Chief Public Relations Officer Vineet Abhishek said the movement of mail and express trains remained suspended from 7.20 pm on Tuesday till 6.50 am on Wednesday due to waterlogging near a bridge close to Sachin station in the Surat area. Train operations resumed after the water receded.
He said 39 trains had been cancelled, 21 short-terminated and 46 rescheduled so far due to the disruption.
“Local trains are running between Churchgate, Virar and Dahanu with delays of 25 to 30 minutes, mainly due to speed restrictions between Vasai, Nalasopara and Virar,” Abhishek said, adding that tracks were inundated, but the water was below the danger level.
More than 200 suburban services were cancelled on Tuesday because of multiple reasons, primarily monsoon-related flooding, he said.
The Western Railway suspended suburban services beyond Vasai Road around 4.30 pm on Tuesday, after floodwaters rose above track level, prompting hundreds of stranded commuters to walk from Vasai to Virar through knee-deep water along the railway tracks.
Videos circulating on social media showed long queues of passengers wading through flooded tracks using mobile phone flashlights even after midnight.
Some clips purportedly showed commuters protesting at Vasai Road station and travelling from Vasai to Virar in tractors after train services were suspended. PTI could not independently verify the authenticity of the videos.
According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the island city received an average rainfall of 61.13 mm during the 48 hours ending at 8 am on Wednesday, while the eastern and western suburbs recorded 86.66 mm and 86.90 mm, respectively.
The IMD has forecast a generally cloudy sky with intermittent spells of light to moderate rain over Mumbai and its suburbs during the day, the civic body said.
A high tide of 3.77 metres is expected at 5.17 pm on Wednesday. The next high tide of 3.49 metres is forecast at 7 am on Thursday.
Tulsi lake, the smallest of Mumbai’s seven water supply reservoirs, began overflowing at 11.43 pm on Tuesday, nearly three hours after Vihar started overflowing at 9 pm, the BMC said.
Despite the two lakes overflowing, the combined water stock in the seven reservoirs supplying drinking water to the metropolis stood at 41.43 per cent of their total live storage capacity, it said.
Modak Sagar was 72 per cent full, Tansa nearly 69 per cent, Bhatsa 36 per cent, Middle Vaitarna 35 per cent and Upper Vaitarna 21 per cent, while Vihar and Tulsi were at full capacity after overflowing on Tuesday night.
The seven reservoirs had a live storage of 598,589 million litres against their total capacity of 1,447,363 million litres, the BMC said.
Located inside Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Mumbai and 35 km from the BMC headquarters, Tulsi lake has a live storage capacity of 8,046 million litres (804.6 crore litres) and supplies an average of 18 million litres of water per day to the city.
According to the BMC, overflow from Tulsi flows into the Vihar lake.
Vihar, Tulsi and Powai lakes are located within Mumbai. The Powai lake also overflowed earlier this month, but its water is not used for drinking purposes.
Constructed in 1879 at a cost of around Rs 40 lakh, Tulsi lake has a catchment area of 6.76 sq km and a water spread area of about 1.35 sq km when full.
Last year, Tulsi lake overflowed on August 16, while in 2024, it started overflowing on August 4, the civic body said. PTI KK GK
