Mumbai-Pune Railway Line to stay shut until August 16, find out what this means

Indian Railways’ Central Railway division has decided to cancel trains on the Mumbai-Pune railway network till August 16, 2019. This means that passengers planning to travel between Mumbai and Pune during the Independence Day holiday will be unable to do so. Additionally, the Miraj-Londa section of South Western Railway has also been cancelled until August 16.
Heavy rain, waterlogging, along with landslides, has forced the Railways to take this decision. The railway line was supposed to open up over the past weekend; however, officials are now saying that it would take a minimum of four more days for the services to resume. According to news reports, the condition of the tracks and the mountainside are still not stable, and hence, it is best not to open the line yet.

The train services that will now take the hit due to this delay are the Deccan Queen, Intercity Express, Sinhagad Express, Mahalaxmi Express, Pragati Express, Ohkha-Tamil Nadu Express, and Konya Express among others.

Shri AK Gupta, @GM_CRly inspected the restoration work going on round the clock in the southeast ghat along with senior officers, RDSO officials & DRM BB. He appreciated the tremendous work being done in extreme conditions & at precarious locations to start traffic on this line. pic.twitter.com/E3TZse6T41

— Central Railway (@Central_Railway) August 11, 2019

Also, Central Railway is planning to buy ten boats in order to help run rescue operations for trains that are stuck in floodwater. This will help speed up the rescue operations, instead of waiting for a disaster response team. These boats will come with life jackets and will be used specifically to rescue elderly passengers and others in need. These boats will also be used to deliver food packets for passengers stuck in the flood.

Towards this effort, the Railway Police Force will be forming an Anti Flooding Squads that will be running out rescue operations, and manage boats.