Pune-Mumbai Expressway and National Highway closed, speed slowed down due to heavy rains and landslides, many trains also cancelled.

Mumbai:The heavy rains that have been occurring in Maharashtra for the last several days have now started showing their dangerous form. The main routes connecting Mumbai and Pune have been closed. A landslide has occurred on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway near Khandala. Rail traffic has also been affected due to huge amount of stones and soil falling on the railway track in the Ghat section.

Vehicles stopped on the national highway

The wheels of vehicles parked on the expressway and national highway have stopped. According to Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation, this landslide occurred near Khandala Exit in the ‘Missing Link’ section of Mumbai-Pune Expressway. Fortunately, there is no news of any casualty in this accident yet. The main traffic had to be completely stopped due to the collapse of a concrete pillar between the connecting link and the missing link. The old Mumbai-Pune National Highway is also closed due to water logging at many places.

Debris fell on railway track

Heavy rains have created flood-like conditions in hilly areas like Maval and Tamini Ghat, due to which strong flow of water is being seen on the hilly roads. An incident of landslide has also been reported in Patan village located near Lohgarh Fort. Along with roadways, rail services also remained untouched by this natural disaster. After heavy rains in Mumbai-Pune Ghat section, huge boulders and heaps of soil have fallen on the tracks.

many trains canceled

Many trains have been cancelled. Seeing the seriousness of the situation, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav himself has reviewed the situation. He said that railway technical teams and emergency staff are deployed at the spot and efforts are being made to clean the track and restore operations as soon as possible. According to Central Railway, local trains on the main line are running late by about 6 to 8 minutes and on the Harbor line by 4 minutes. The situation is normal on the Transharbour and Uran-Belapur line. Keeping security in mind, Railways has canceled many long distance trains on this route, while the routes of some have been diverted.

A big crack on the Mumbai-Goa National Highway

Due to heavy rains in the Konkan region, a big crack has appeared on the newly constructed Mumbai-Goa National Highway at Kashedi Ghat in Khedi taluka. Due to road subsidence and spreading of mud, vehicular movement has been stopped on this highway due to safety reasons, due to which long queues of vehicles have formed on both sides. The Meteorological Department has issued ‘Red Alert’ for Pune and ‘Orange Alert’ for Mumbai and warned of more heavy rains in the coming time.

Holiday declared in schools and colleges

In view of this emergency, the administration has declared holiday on Monday in all government and private schools and colleges of Mumbai, Pune, Thane and Palghar. Mumbai University has postponed all its examinations scheduled to be held on 6th July. Whose new dates will be announced later. The administration has instructed the public to come out of their homes only when absolutely necessary.