PUNE: Senior Central Railway officials have said that atleast one of the two lines between Pune and Lonavla was expected to become operational by late evening hours of Tuesday. With passengers of long distance trains worried, officials said that the landslide which happened due to the rains in the wee hours of Monday, had affected a total of 9 sites between Thakurwadi Cabin and Monkey Hill of the Southeast ghat section. Of these sites, debris had been cleared from 4 sites and work on rest of the sites was being carried out by involving 400 workers and heavy machinery. “Right now we cannot say anything for certain but are expecting that by late evening, one line towards Pune from Lonavla opens up. This will allow for some train movements in and out of Pune. The area which has been hit by the landslide falls under the Mumbai division and restoration works are on. However, the continuous rains are causing problems,” Hemant Kumar Behera, the public relations officer with the Pune rail division, said. According to the latest update from Central Railway, a total of 14 trains including all intercity trains between Pune and Mumbai (and back) were cancelled on Tuesday. In addition to this, one train was partially cancelled, 5 trains were diverted, and 3 trains each were short terminated and short originated. One train had been rescheduled. Swapnil Nila, the chief public relations officer with Central Railway said that the ghat section (towards Karjat) consisted of 3 lines and they were hoping to open two of them by this evening. “There wasn’t one but multiple landslides which hit the section. We are making every effort possible to restore the same as quickly as possible,” the CPRO said. Meanwhile, passengers enroute on many trains to Pune and those having plans to travel from Pune to other states, were worried and hassled. Passengers said that train diversions would land them into major inconvenience, alleging that the railways was not providing them with timely updates.
