Digging work triggering Western Railway delays

Trains on the Western Railway (WR) in far off suburbs such as Virar and up to Dahanu as well as long distance trains, including the Rajdhani Express have been delayed for the past two days owing to the digging work, next to the tracks near Vaitarna.

The digging was undertaken for the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) from Mumbai to Delhi; however, the ensuing soil erosion has triggered alarm.

Officials have said that the digging was done only three kilometres from Vaitarna but after the continuous downpour in the region as well as additional holes that were dug up in the area next to the tracks, the ballast had eroded away from under the track.

“The washing away of the tracks was reported by one of our men and then we realised that it was quiet dangerous,” said an official on condition of anonymity.

The hole was dug up to place foundations for temporary shelters for those workers who were working on the DFC but officials did not realise that they had dug in too deep. “We had to put a speed limit of 30 kmph on the entire section and we have almost filled up the hole and reinforced some of the washed away ballast,” the official said.

The erosion has taken place on the west side of Vaitarna in what is marked as bridge number 92 by the WR. This issue alone has caused a delay of local trains by 10 minutes in the past few days. In addition, the effect of further speed restrictions at Andheri has resulted in more delay on the line.

The ballast in monsoon is prone to get washed away and in some cases the tracks too are not spared. This is an issue peculiar to the WR as the track alignment lies around the Western coast heading into Gujarat. One of the biggest wash outs was seen back in 2015, with the Pipava Port and Jira Road station affecting mail express trains in and out of Mumbai.