2-hr water waste, 5,555 people go dry

Water pipeline crash-lands on CST-Kalyan train near Thane station yesterday, bringing death, injury and dry days for a town without cuts

Water pipeline crash-lands on CST-Kalyan train near Thane station yesterday, bringing death, injury and dry days for a town without cuts

At 10.35 am, a girder of an under-construction road overbridge crashed down on to a CST-Kalyan local a few metres away from Thane station, bringing down with it an adjacent water pipeline. The accident left two dead and 11 injured and at least 5,555 people without water for the next two days.

go with the flow: With all attention on rescue operations no one thought of turning off the water mains in time. Pic/Sameer Markande

The pipeline broke and water gushed out with unbridled abandon. The enormity of the accident and the horror of the trapped motorman under the collapsed cabin ensured everyone, everywhere, focused on the rescue operations. Of getting the man out alive, of getting passengersu00a0- injured or otherwise out of the train.

Or of course, just watching the spectacle with a voyeur's delight.u00a0 All through this, the pipeline disgorged precious water. Two hours later when the water mains were finally shut, 5 lakh litres of water had been spilt. That means 25,000 buckets of water, equal to the per day supply of 1,388 families with four members each.

Unlike Mumbai, Thane city does not face a water cut right now, but civic officials in the hydraulic department say a 10 per cent cut is imminent.u00a0

Nitin Deshmukh, who was present at the spot said, "When the water finally stopped spilling out it was a good two hours." TMC commissioner Nandakumar Jantre's cell phone as well as those of all the water department officials were switched off through the day.

600 mmu00a0The diameter of the broken pipeline