Train services restored after Sat night’s Khandala landslides

Senior railway official said 100 cubic metres of rock slide reported between Monkey Hill and Khandala (LonavalaKalyan section) at about 20.50 pm on August 25. The static watchman did excellent work of reporting rock slide

Train services between Pune and Mumbai were hit following a landslide between Khandala and Monkey Hill railway stations around 9pm on Saturday. However, the tracks were cleared around 2 pm on August 26 resulting which four express trains were cancelled and few trains were also delayed.

Senior railway official said 100 cubic metres of rock slide reported between Monkey Hill and Khandala (Lonavala-Kalyan section) at about 20.50 pm on August 25. The static watchman did excellent work of reporting rock slide.

“Boulders came crashing onto the railway track at kilometre no. 121/4. After the landslide, theKol ha pu rahm ed a bad train was halted at Khandala station and the Pune-Ahmedabad Duronto express train at Lonavala station. Trains plying between Mumbai and Pune remained unaffected,” said official.

CR official said for a considerable time Kolhapur Ahmedabad train stopped at Khandala station and about the landslide was got to know when a police was patrolling at night.

Chief Public Relation officer, Sunil Udasi said emergency teams from Lonavala and other stations rushed to the spot and efforts were on to clear the tracks to restore traffic at the earliest. The railway track was not damaged. “Static watchman and CCTV cameras helped the administration to regulate the mail/express trains on this section. Few trains both Up and Down were detained. Hill gang/Boulder special team was immediately despatched for clearing huge number of boulders from middle and UP line between Monkey Hill and Khandala,”added Udasi.