Mumbai:
The city heaved a huge sigh of relief yesterday as it received its first showers giving Mumbaikars a much-needed respite from the terrible heat. However, even as people celebrated the showers, the lives of several were disrupted as train services were affected at different locations. On the Western Railway (WR), technical snags erupted at Elphinstone Road and Dadar stations and even later at Borivli owing to the rains.
Sources in the WR said that the schedule at Borivli was affected owing to problems related to the overhead cables. Explaining the glitch, a senior official said, "During the first rains, there are chances of the electricity tripping momentarily in case any foreign object touches the cables. When it gets wet, the power supply to trains gets affected."
However, if one remembers correctly, early this year, WR had upgraded the power supply from 1,500-volt direct current to 25,000-volt alternating current. Officials at the time had claimed that the change would decrease the chances of power failures that occur during the first rains.
Admitting to the snags, Nitin David, Public Relations officer, WR, said, "There were technical problems near Dadar and Borivli that caused a delay of around 15-20 minutes."
Central Railway (CR) services were also affected. "At least two-three trains had to halt owing to technical problems with the signals that were caused due to the rains," said a senior CR official. Sources added that a train had to be cancelled at Badlapur station owing to a technical snag. Other signal problems also arose between Dadar and Parel and even at Parsik tunnel in Thane. However, CR authorities officially claimed that there weren't too many issues.
Additionally, incidents of trees collapsing were also reported in some parts of the city. According to official figures, six trees collapsed in the island city and the western suburbs yesterday. "We did not receive any complaint of water logging. However, a few trees collapsed in the city," said a BMC official from the disaster management cell adding that there were no injuries.