Ants throw a spanner in Indian Railways' repair works in Mumbai

Ants had created panic last March when they appeared in the first class compartment of a metro in the Central line

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Moneycontrol News

Indian Railways is facing a surprising new challenge in Mumbai that is affecting its repair works - red ants. The efforts of the department to re-rail coaches in the suburb of Mahim was complicated by the insects who swarmed the area.

The story started to unfold last Friday when an Andheri bound local train derailed on the Harbour line. Five coaches of the local train derailed blocking other trains on the line at Mahim. Later, as per a DNA report, a quick re-railing of the train turned into a nine-hour long marathon effort due to the red ants coming from the garbage.

The waterlogging due to heavy downpour and garbage lying around the area had attracted a large group of red ants that prevented any re-railing work. “Our staff had to struggle due to the water logging on the rail lines and red ants on the sides of the tracks that had come due to garbage and faeces”, said an official from Western Railway.

This is not the first time that the life line of the maximum city has come under attack from ants. Ants had created panic last March when they appeared in the first class compartment of a metro in the Central line.The presence of large volumes of garbage is also an embarrassment to the railways which is conducting ‘Swachhta Pakhwada' campaign to highlight the need for cleanliness.