Central Railway ensures no disruption in next monsoon in the Monkey Hill area

The Central Railway has undertaken extensive restoration work in the Monkey Hill area which will solve the issue of boulders on the rail line for the next 30 years. These mishaps often led to cancellation or delay of trains.

The heavy rains along the Lonavala-Khandala route has affected the 10-kilometre stretch between Monkey Hill and Nagnath in a way that several boulders tumbled down the hilly terrain and blocked the road.

Also, the gushing water that ran down the mountain swept away a lot of soil leaving the space uneven for the trains to ply.

Several train routes were affected due to heavy rains that the area received this year. As a result, alternative routes are being used currently. The trains CSMT-Bijapur, CSMT-Pandharpur and Pragati Express have been cancelled until December, while the Mumbai-Kolhapur, Koyna Express, LTT-Hubballi Express, Mumbai-Hyderabad Express, LTT-Vishakhapatnam and Panvel-Nanded trains, have been partially suspended.

Untitled Carousel

Speaking about the on-going restoration work, Central Railway’s Chief Public Relations Officer Shivaji Sutar said, “The restoration work began on October 3 and is progressing rapidly with 40 workers and railway employees working in the region round the clock.”

“A total of Rs 10 crore is being spent on the restoration work which is of high quality. This kind of work will ensure that the passengers will have to face no disruptions during the next monsoon, which is the usual case,” Sutar added.

All the material is carried by train to the area where the restoration is currently being carried out and is, therefore, taking time to be completed.

According to railway authorities, all the trains running between the two cities as well as to the other cities will resume smooth operations from January. They also claimed that a lot of effort is being put in fixing the issue so that no disruption takes place again in that area.

To complete the work, a team of experts from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay, were consulted and a decision was taken to stop the trains from plying on those tracks on an immediate basis.

Dilnaz Safari, a resident of Pune who often travels to Mumbai for work purpose, said, “For the past few months the train schedule has gone from bad to worse with trains between Mumbai and Pune being cancelled or diverted every now and then.”

Untitled Carousel