Mumbai floods derails finances of three railway zones

The recent downpour in the state has resulted in heavy losses for the three railway zones "" Western, Central and Konkan.

Western Railways (WR) lost around Rs 12 crore. Of this, Rs 7 crore was owing to repairs in suburban rakes, Rs 1 crore owing to damage to tracks, signals and electric poles.

The rest accounted for ticket refunds as around 130 Gujarat and Delhi-bound trains were cancelled between July 26 and 30.

"We have planned to restore normalcy by the month-end. By August 20 there will be complete normalcy," said Shailendra Kumar, spokesperson for WR.

Of the 250 services between Virar and Churchgate, 70 per cent are running, and most of the 12 coaches are cut short to 9 coaches. Till now only 50 per cent of the 12 coaches trains has been restored. It will take another week for the trains to operate in full swing.

"The 1,007 train services which western line runs in a day were hit because of the 26 damaged EMU rakes and signalling systems. Seventeen of these have been brought back into service, while 9 rakes are yet to be repaired," he added.

Central Railway (CR) was equally hit by the floods. Of the 94 EMU rakes which run on the suburban lines, 49 were damaged. 32 of them have till now been restored. This alone has cost CR Rs 27 crore.

"This has affected the frequency of locals. To ease the burden of passengers, the central suburban railway is running shuttle services in the peak hours of the day on CST Thane-Kalyan route. These services will operate till all the rakes are back on the tracks," said A K Singh, PRO, Central Railway.

The overall loss to the Central railway has been estimated around Rs 80 crore. The refunding back of the tickets has cost Rs 15 crore. CR has been the worst hit in terms of train cancellation as tracks in its north-east and south-east sections were washed away.

"Trains were cancelled from 26 July onwards. However, because of the excessive number of cancellations the exact number is not known," Singh said.

About 1,200 metres of track between Ambivli and Titwala, Ambarnath and Badlapur was completely washed away. "The losses suffered by CR owing to the floods was estimated at Rs 80 crore. We expect to return to normalcy within a week," Singh said.

On Monday this week, 74 EMU rakes and 8 trains with second-class coaches were put into service. Of the 1,203 CR services, 975 have been restored.

The Konkan Railway kept all of its trains, heading to Mangalore, Kerela and Goa, cancelled till Monday. "Four trains were restored on Tuesday and the rest will be on the track by today," said an official at Konkan Railway.

The loss suffered by Konkan zone has been mostly because of the cancellation of trains." It is around Rs 6-7 crore and the refunding back of the tickets has cost us Rs 1 crore.

Many of the railway staff colonies in areas such as Mangaon were completely washed away causing personal damage," said Vaishali Patangi, PRO, Konkan Railway.