Surat: Heavy rainfall and widespread waterlogging in Mumbai and Palghar severely disrupted rail services on the busy Ahmedabad-Mumbai corridor on Monday, forcing Western Railway to divert, reschedule or short-terminate 70 trains and cancel 16 others.The disruption was triggered by heavy waterlogging at Saphale, Kelve Road, Vasai Road and Nallasopara stations in the Mumbai division of Western Railway, making train operations unsafe on several sections.Several Mumbai-bound trains originating from Gujarat were short-terminated at stations across South Gujarat and reversed to ensure passenger safety. These included the Ahmedabad-Mumbai Vande Bharat Express, Ahmedabad-Mumbai Tejas Express, Azamgarh-Bandra Express, Surat-Virar, Ahmedabad-Bandra Karnavati Express, Jodhpur-Bandra Suryanagari Express, Ahmedabad-Mumbai Central Double Decker Express, Jaipur-Bandra Express, Ajmer-Dadar Express and Bhuj-Dadar Superfast Express.The affected trains were terminated at stations including Vapi, Bilimora, Sanjan, Umargam, Valsad, Surat, Udhna and Navsari before being sent back towards their originating destinations.Meanwhile, several other services, including the Dadar-Sayajinagari Express, Gujarat Superfast Express, Yesvantpur Express, Secunderabad Express and Dadar-Saurashtra Express, were regulated at different stations in the Vadodara division due to congestion and operational constraints.To minimise disruption, Western Railway diverted several long-distance trains running through Maharashtra via alternate routes. These included the Ahmedabad-Chennai Central Express, Pune-Bhuj Express, Pune-Ahmedabad Duronto Express, Tiruchirappalli-Ahmedabad Express, Rajkot-Secunderabad Express, Ajmer-KSR Bengaluru Express and Jodhpur-Hadapsar Express. The diverted trains were routed through the Surat-Paldhi-Jalgaon-Manmad-Daund and Daund Chord-Manmad-Igatpuri-Kalyan sections.Western Railway also cancelled the Bandra-Udhna Special in both directions and rescheduled the Udhna-Malda Town Express.With thousands of passengers stranded at stations across South Gujarat and adjoining parts of Maharashtra, railway authorities, assisted by local organisations, arranged food and drinking water for travellers.Western Railway chief public relations officer Anubhav Saxena said the railways also deployed road transport to help passengers continue their journeys. “We arranged around 15 state transport buses from Surat, Valsad, Vapi, Navsari, Bhilad and Sanjan for Mumbai and other destinations,” he said.Help desks were set up at every station where trains were halted, while meals, biscuits, tea and drinking water were also provided to passengers, Saxena added.
