Waterlogging woes: BMC, Central Railway construct drain under tracks at Sandhurst Road station

This is the longest micro-tunnelling work to stop waterlogging on the tracks at a station in the state.

THE BRIHANMUMBAI Municipal Corporation (BMC), along with the Central Railway, completed constructing a storm water drain within four months under the railway tracks at Sandhurst Road station using micro tunnelling method.

This is the longest micro-tunnelling work to stop waterlogging on the tracks at a station in the state. Micro tunnelling is a trenchless solution to dig small-diameter tunnels that are used for projects involving passages to cross under dense traffic roads, stations and rivers. The work started on March 20 and continued without disturbing the railway operations.

A 415-meter long and 1,800-mm diameter rainwater RCC pipe was laid under the tracks by the Railway and a 25-meter long box drain laid by the corporation in the next part of the railway boundary to connect the rainwater canal to the main rainwater canal of the BMC.

Officials said to solve the problem of waterlogging at low-lying Sandhurst Road station during monsoon, engineers of the rainwater harvesting department of the Greater Mumbai Municipal Corporation and their counterparts of the Central Railway jointly studied and decided to build a rainwater drainage system in the railway boundary under the tracks so that it opens up new avenues for drainage.

The officials said the task was “extremely challenging” as Tata’s high-pressure power lines and large water pipes are located at the site of the box drain. However, the BMC engineers have completed the project efficiently and in a short span of time.

“To stop waterlogging on the tracks at Sandhurst Road station, a work of storm water drain using micro tunnelling of 415 meters was undertaken. The work has been completed successfully by overcoming several hurdles like aligning of sheds, pitlines, heavy power cables, storm water pipelines and hard rock at the construction site,” said Shivaji Sutar, Central Railway CPRO.

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