Mumbai Local Trains Run Through The Night For People Stranded In Rains

Mumbai: Trains will run through the night if needed to evacuate passengers stranded in stations, the Railways tweeted last night as rain-hit suburban train services in Mumbai slowly limped back to normalcy with the first train in hours chugging out of the Churchgate station around midnight.

Traffic on the Western Railway suburban network had come been stopped earlier on Tuesday due to the incessant downpour.

The first train left Churchgate in south Mumbai for Virar at 11:58 pm, the Western Railway tweeted. "Evacuation of all stranded passengers is priority and trains will be run throughout the night, if required," it said.

Mumbai's suburban train network, which carries over 65 lakh passengers a day, is the lifeline of the financial capital and stopping the services had led to inconvenience to many office-goers who had braved the heavy rains to make it to their offices.
 The Central Railway, which operates trains from the Chhtrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, tweeted around 11:30 pm that services on the Thane-Kalyan line, which is a section on the main line, had resumed.

One Suburban train from Matunga to Dombivali starts at 0046 hrs on Dn slow line @RailMinIndia @RidlrMUM

— Central Railway (@Central_Railway) August 29, 2017

Every minute of Mumbai's day on Tuesday was nightmarish after the city received over 10 times the rain that it gets during the monsoon. Four inches of rain were recorded in just four hours the morning - and by then, the financial capital was gridlocked with traffic. By the time officials began urging people not to leave home unless absolutely necessary, cars were bobbing along in water, trains were running late with tracks submerged, and key highways and roads were choked.

Heavy rain has been forecast for today as well, and schools and colleges have been told not to open.

For complete coverage of Mumbai rains, click here.

(With inputs from PTI)