Sion is a railway station on the Central line of the Mumbai Suburban Railway network, located in the Mumbai neighborhood of Sion.
Its location near the Mithi River means that the railway between Sion and Kurla, directly to the north,[1] has flooded frequently during the Indian monsoon. However, in 2019, the Central Railway conducted work to raise the trackbed by four to six inches to prevent future flooding. Previously, 30 mm of rain in 24 hours flooded the track, but now there will be no disruption of services with 100 mm of rain per day.[2]
Despite this work, the tracks near this station still experienced waterlogging and flooding during the 2019 floods in Mumbai.[3]
History
Sion can be considered the actual place of inauguration of the GIP Railway, since it was here that the "first sod for the railway was turned" by the Chief Secretary of the then Bombay Government, John P. Willoughby. Sion was one of the stations for the First Passenger Train of India (the second stop), that ran on 16th April 1853, where its engines were 'watered' and its wheels greased.[4]
Trains had started halting at Sion since 1853; however, it seems that there was no permanent halting station. In 1872, 107 local inhabitants from Sion and nearby villages sent a petition to the Railway Company (GIPR) to request a station be built. Considering the petitions and the benefits it offered, the GIPR eventually built an official station, the Sion Station.[5]
References
- ↑ "Sion". Sion. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
- ↑ Mishra, Kamal (4 May 2019). "No flooding between Sion and Kurla this rainy season". Mumbai Mirror. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
- ↑ "Tracks near Sion station waterlogged after garbage clogs pump". The Times of India. 2 July 2019. Retrieved 2 July 2019.
- ↑ "Inauguration of the Great Indian Peninsula Railway". Argus. 26 July 1853.
- ↑ Aklekar, Rajendra (2014). Halt Station India : The Dramatic Tale of the Nation's First Rail Lines. Rupa Publications. ISBN 978-81-291-3497-4.
