Mumbai rains: Local train services hit, Dabbawalas suspend work

Mumbai: Owing to heavy rain over the night, suburban services of the Western Railway here were stopped, a senior railway official said. The official said that services between Churchgate and Borivili were, however, normal.

“Since last night, over 200 mm rainfall has been recorded which led to water logging on railway tracks and considering the passengers’ safety, train services have been stopped till the water level on the track recedes,” he said.

He said that de-watering efforts are being made by the water pumping machines to flush the water. However, the Central Railway’s suburban services are running normally at all its corridors despite the heavy rain overnight.

“Trains are running normally on Central Railway’s all three lines — main, harbour and trans-harbour,” the Central Railway tweeted. It also tweeted to thank its passengers to offer its gratitude.

“We received innumerable messages and tweets yesterday from you all bestowing accolades on us that despite heavy torrential rains for the past 72 hrs, we provided uninterrupted services. We thank you all for the faith, confidence and immense support shown by each one of you,” it tweeted with a video attachment.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted heavy to very heavy rain till Thursday. Amid torrential rain, the Tulsi lake, which supplies water to the people of the city, started overflowing yesterday. Mumbai’s pervasive Dabbawalas, the tiffin careers of the city, have suspended their work today in entire city.

“We did not collect the tiffins today, because of the water logging across the city. Our people find hard to wade through their cycle in knee deep water,” Mumbai Dabbawalas Association’s spokesperson Subhash Talekar said.