Both Mumbai, Railways need to be prepared for monsoon: Piyush Goyal

With Mumbai being lashed with heavy rains, Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday said that both the financial capital of India and the Railways need to be fully prepared for the monsoon.

With Mumbai being lashed with heavy rains, Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday said that both the financial capital of India and the Railways need to be fully prepared for the monsoon. The union railway minister today reviewed the preparations and road map of Mumbai Suburban Railways for all contingency solutions in the rainy season, a statement from the ministry said.

The Minister examined the current status of vulnerable areas and reviewed plans for the smooth functioning of trains. Goyal said that Railways is committed to ensuring that no inconvenience is caused to Mumbaikars as the monsoon begins. The meeting was attended by senior officials of the Railway Board and Mumbai.

While reviewing the preparedness of the Suburban Railways, the Minister advised the Railways to partner with Institutions like IIT Mumbai to study the efficiency of technical and civil work initiatives of Railways in handling monsoon rains. He said innovation and hard work must go together to ensure that Railway services continue to operate safely and in an uninterrupted manner.

Even during the Covid pandemic, the Railways had undertaken a major exercise to for the cleaning of muck/garbage/earth of 2,10,000 cubic meters from suburban section by deploying three "No muck special" including specially modified EMU rakes in Mumbai. Flooding spots of the previous monsoon were identified and customized solutions were devised for each spot that is in Bandra, Andheri, Mahim, Grant road, Goregaon.

In order to have real time and authentic rain data, the railway ministry said that four numbers automatic rain gauge (ARG) have now been installed in association with India Meteorological Department (IMD) and ten numbers installed by WR independently. The number of pumps provided on track and depots including sewerage and submersible pumps have been increased by 33 percent. Drones were used for survey and monitoring of cleaning of nallah in Borivali Virar section and suction/de-sludging machines were used to ensure deep cleaning of culverts.

Adoption of a new micro tunneling method for the construction of culverts was taken up to ensure that water-logging is minimised. (ANI)

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