The monsoon has hit Maharashtra hard. Even as Mumbai - the city that never sleeps - is not having much rain in the past few days, there are many regions like Pune, which are affected due to heavy water-logging and landslide disrupting rail journeys in these two. A week ago, Maharashtra witnessed rains never seen before, creating havoc in places like Kolhapur, Raigad, Sangli, Solhapur, Pune, Thane, Palghar and some parts of Mumbai. While Central Railways is working hard to normalize the situation, but for now rail routes between Mumbai to Pune have further been shut down till August 15 until further notice. 

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Right now, passengers travelling from Mumbai to Pune or vice versa will have to opt for road transport services. Every day, the Central Railways is either cancelling or terminating trains between Mumbai and Pune and Sunday was no different. 

It has been reported that tracks between Mumbai and Pune have been damaged after a few cases of boulder-falling and landslides in ghat areas, which was witnessed during the end of last month. 

After reviewing the progress of work on affected areas of these two rail routes, General Manager (CR) AK Gupta on Saturday further announced postponement of restoration of services, reported Mumbai Mirror. Also, chief public relations officer Sunil Udasi said that the Central Railway is trying to complete the repair work by August 15. 

Further, reportedly, CR has also hired IIT-Bombay to conduct a structural audit of all tunnels in Mumbai to Pune and Mumbai to Igatpuri ghat sections. Also, direct trains between Mumbai and Gandhidham were also affected due to torrential rains in Gujarat. Hence, services were suspended on these two routes. 

Gupta had visited for inspection on the site. The Central Railways tweeted, “AK Gupta, @GM_CRly inspected the restoration work going on round the clock in the southeast ghat along with senior officers, RDSO officials & DRM BB. He appreciated the tremendous work being done in extreme conditions & at precarious locations to start traffic on this line.”

Since August 3, over 500 long-distance trains have been cancelled, after a landslide in Thakurwadi and Monkey Hill. 

On Sunday, Central Railways cancelled few more trains on Mumbai-Pune route. The authority tweeted, “Due to heavy rainfall & water logging/landslide on Mumbai and Pune divisions of Central Railway, Miraj-Londa section on South Western Railway and Southern Railway, the following trains are cancelled/short originated/short terminated/diverted."

On Saturday, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal announced that no freight charges will be levied on relief material sent to the flood-affected states of Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra. Goyal said, “We urge you to help us in this effort and send as much relief material as possible, which we will transport for free.”