A major tragedy was averted along the Lonavala-Karjat Ghat section of the Central Railway after an alert patrolman spotted boulders and muck on the tracks in the darkness of night on Friday.
The Pune-Raigad stretch has been experiencing heavy rainfall for the past few days.
Due to heavy rainfall, boulders, along with muck, fell on Nagnath-Palasdhari stretch in Lonavala-Karjat Ghat section in the up line at 12:50 am.
Some heavy boulders, measuring one to two metres, broke loose on the approach of tunnel no 26.
Motiram Lobhi, who was the on duty patrolman, detected the boulder falling and protected the track immediately. He took quick action by stopping one banker (loco) which was in the section by showing the red signal. He called the higher officials and informed them about the incident.
A boulder train, carrying stone-breakers, safety equipment etc, was ordered for the restoration work. Mail Express trains were diverted on the midline. Up and down traffic was running on two lines -- downline and midline.
After restoration, the up line traffic re-started at 8:15 am.
Due to availability of only two lines, as against three lines, trains arriving in Mumbai from Pune side and due to ghat banking locomotive movements, few down trains (going towards Pune) suffered detention from 30 minutes to one hour during the restoration work period.
(Published 12 August 2022, 08:49 IST)
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