Officials of the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) finally had a sit-down meeting with Central Railway (CR) officials and drew up a plan to reconstruct the crumbling walls belonging to illegal structu
Officials of the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) finally had a sit-down meeting with Central Railway (CR) officials and drew up a plan to reconstruct the crumbling walls belonging to illegal structures near Parsik Tunnel that had thrown train services off gear on Wednesday. However, as the TMC has not yet come to a decision on what to do with the illegal structures themselves whose walls infringe into the track, the CR has categorised it as ‘railway-affecting work’.
On June 15, the CR had seen around 300 services cancelled and 400 delayed. In this chaos, the major disruption was caused by the TMC calling in a last minute block for an hour. The TMC had overshot the block by an hour and was also unable to complete the work for which the block was taken in the first place. According to an agreement that both the CR and the TMC have signed (a copy of which is available with this paper), it was decided during the meeting that the work of the reconstruction of the safety wall at Parsik Hill shall be executed by the TMC under the supervision of railways. Necessary designs for the same will also be approved by the railways.
The letter goes on to say that the Phase I work will be done immediately and Phase II will be done after monsoon. “Other issues related with safety of trains were also discussed and joint action plan was prepared,” it said. The letter further stated that inspections for the same would be done in March and October. “The structure over Parsik Hill will be considered as railway-affecting work,” said the final paragraph.
Officials have said that the speed restriction of 30 kmph is likely to remain on the fast track near Diva throughout the monsoon. “It is just too risky right now, we cannot run the train at the previous 50 kmph marker until the work done by TMC is state-of-the-art or the monsoon is over,” said an official. The speed restriction has caused an average delay of 10 to 15 minutes on the fast track since Wednesday.
