Mumbai — The Mithi River, swollen by incessant rain and a high tide, brought Mumbai’s suburban train network to a standstill on Tuesday, disrupting lakhs of commuters across the city.
Trains on the Central Railway’s Main and Harbour lines—particularly the Kurla, Sion, Matunga, Chunabhatti and Govandi stretches—were halted for nearly eight hours between 11:30 am and 7:30 pm. On the Western Railway, services slowed considerably between Mahim, Matunga Road and Dadar, though operations did not come to a complete stop.
Heavy Rainfall, High Tide Combine
Mumbai received over 163 mm of rainfall between 8:30 am and 5:30 pm, which, coupled with a 3.74-metre high tide, caused the Mithi River to overflow. Rail officials stated that water from the river flowed back onto the tracks and adjacent roads, rendering pumping operations ineffective.
“The main reason for the disruption was the Mithi crossing the danger mark around 9:30 am,” a senior Central Railway official said. “With the floodgates at Kurla shut and the high tide pushing water back, levels rose sharply on the tracks.”
Sections of the Sion-Kurla stretch recorded 11 inches of water, while the Kurla-Chunabhatti stretch had 19 inches, far above the permissible levels of 6 inches for local and 4 inches for long-distance trains.
Large-Scale Disruptions
The impact was severe:
Over 800 Central Railway services—around 45% of its 1,810 daily trips—were cancelled.
100 services on Western Railway were also cancelled.
At least 16 long-distance trains were rescheduled, 14 cancelled, and five short-terminated at Pune, Nashik and Panvel.
Trains that did run experienced average delays of 20 to 45 minutes.
On the Western line, services on the Vasai-Virar belt were also affected due to waterlogging.
A Familiar Weak Spot
Officials highlighted the Dharavi nullah and Kurla culvert as chronic problem points. The Mithi River, flowing through a 1.8-metre culvert perpendicular to the tracks, exceeded the railway’s permissible level of 2.7 metres by nearly 1.1 metres, overwhelming infrastructure.
By 11:20 am, Central Railway suspended services between Kurla and Chunabhatti. Within 20 minutes, both Slow and Fast lines between Kurla and Sion were shut, effectively cutting South Mumbai off from the eastern suburbs for most of the day.