Western And Central Railways To Take Significant Steps For Uninterrupted Services In Monsoon

The Western and Central Railways has announced significant developments as monsoon preparedness in Mumbai.

These include a pulse radar-based water monitoring system at sensitive bridges, remote-controlled floater cameras for recording images of culverts or bridges and point machine coverings that protect flood-prone areas of suburban trains.

According to The Times of India, Central Railways Chief Spokesperson Swapnil Nila stated that to maintain uninterrupted services throughout the monsoon season, the suburban railways engaged in a mission-oriented approach. “We have developed point machine covers, which have been installed at 231 identified flood-prone areas across the CR network, providing widespread protection and reliability.

The reduction in point machine breakdowns during flooding greatly enhances operational efficiency. This innovation eliminates the requirement for manual clamping of points, which has traditionally been necessary during such failures,” he said.

Meanwhile, Vineet Abhishek, Chief Spokesperson of Western Railways, said, “We have installed a pulse radar-based water level monitoring system at sensitive bridges, consisting of water level monitoring equipment and intelligent field devices.

Every 15 minutes, this system transmits water level data via GPRS to a centralised data center, which is linked to the Bridge Management system, a Railway IT program. Officials receive SMS alerts for timely updates to this app. Making it possible to monitor river water levels in real-time from any location via a basic Internet browser.”

Apart from these, the WR has also installed remote cameras to capture pictures of culverts and bridges that are difficult to access manually. The spokesperson added that these cameras include built-in lighting systems to provide crisp photos of underground culverts even in low-light circumstances. The pictures are then used to help with the cleaning of these culverts.

As stated by the CR spokesperson, to ensure the smooth running of the trains during heavy rainfall and severe weather conditions, both the central and the western railways will work closely with the BMC’s Disaster Management Cell.

“A special timetable has been implemented for high tides and severe rainfall days. WR and CR are also working closely with other municipal entities to provide prior information to the Railways whenever water is released from dams, which affects bridges and tracks. Municipalities will also arrange local transportation for speedy disbursement of passengers during emergencies,” Swapnil Nila added.

Additionally, the municipal bodies have been creating awareness among the people residing in the slums near the tracks to prevent disposal of garbage and waste on the tracks. Notably, about 60-70 lakh suburban commuters in Mumbai travel every day by the Western and Central Railways.