For hours, Pune cut off from Mumbai as rain hits highways, buses and railway tracks
Pune: For several hours on Monday, the cities of Pune and Mumbai were virtually cut off from each other as heavy rain shut down roads, bus services and several important intercity trains.The first major disruption occurred around 3am when a landslide slammed into railway tracks between Monkey Hill and Thakurwadi.
By Monday evening, 26 trains were cancelled, officials said, including the Deccan Queen, Deccan Express, Indrayani Express, Intercity Express and Sinhagad Express, which will remain cancelled on Tuesday too. Another 47 trains had to be diverted.Almost simultaneously, inclement weather shut down major highway routes to Mumbai.
Emergency personnel found themselves scrambling to fix one problem after another. Around 4am early Monday came the landslide near the Missing Link’s tunnel 2 that shut traffic to Mumbai from Pune. Nearly four hours later, expressway traffic was hit near Urse toll plaza as two mudslides struck — first around 8.30am and then around 11.30am.
“Both the Pune and Mumbai corridors were affected, but we were able to clear the mud within an hour,” said Superintendent of police (HSP), Shivaji Pawar.A move to divert traffic from the expressway to the old Pune-Mumbai highway proved difficult too, due to a fallen tree near Khopoli. Severe flooding on the expressway near Kamshet also hampered vehicular movement.
It was only by 10pm that authorities could restore traffic movement along the Pune to Mumbai corridor. But trains continued to be affected.Hemant Kumar Behera, divisional commercial manager and public relations officer of the Pune rail division, said track restoration work was underway on war footing despite the weather.
“The area where the landslide occurred falls under Mumbai division. Work is on to fix it,” Behera said.MSRTC too suspended its Pune-Mumbai services. Kamlesh Dhanrale, divisional transport officer of Pune MSRTC said buses that had departed from Pune on Monday morning were forced to return due to traffic jams near Urse toll plaza.
“We have not restarted buses between Mumbai and Pune,” Dhanrale said on Monday evening. We heard traffic movement is slowly returning to normal on the expressway, but we can’t operate buses until we’re given the all-clear,” he added.Stranded commuters said they were shocked by how transport between the two cities had nearly collapsed.
“I felt it was impossible to reach Pune,” said Malad resident Mekhala Argekar, who was unable to reach her Talegaon home. “I got a call around 6am on Monday from my neighbour in Talegaon who said his house was flooded. Then I found out that the roads were closed and the intercity trains had been cancelled.
It was unbelievable,” she said.(Inputs from Mihir Tanksale)You Can Also Check: Gold Rate in Pune | Silver Rate in Pune | Bank Holidays in Pune | Public Holidays in Pune | Petrol Price in Pune | Diesel Price in Pune | CNG Price in Pune | LPG Price in PuneStay updated with the latest Pune news. Download the TOI App.