Mumbai Metro Line 3’s Acharya Atre Chowk station experienced waterlogging on Sunday morning following an intense spell of rainfall, prompting a brief disruption in services at the station. However, metro services continued to operate safely along the rest of the route.
In a video message, Ashwini Bhide, Managing Director of Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC), addressed concerns after visuals of flooding at the station went viral, saying the incident occurred due to extremely heavy rainfall—90 mm in just one hour between 9.30 am and 10.30 am on May 26—and high tide conditions that overwhelmed the stormwater drainage system.
According to Bhide, the flooding was localised to a pit near one of the under-construction entry-exit points of the station. “As much as 11 lakh litres of rainwater collected in the pit in an hour,” she said. “Due to the overflow, the water entered the station concourse and platform level.”
Emergency systems were activated promptly, and a few people were evacuated as a precaution. The station was temporarily closed, and services between BKC and Cuffe Parade were halted, while operations continued uninterrupted between other stations such as JB Nagar and Rajiv Gandhi VLR.
Bhide clarified that while two of the five entry-exit points at Acharya Atre Chowk station are already operational and sufficient for current ridership, the remaining three are still under construction and will be completed in the next 2–3 months. “A bund wall had been erected at the construction site, but the volume of rainwater surpassed its capacity,” she explained.
Importantly, no water entered the metro tunnels or affected the track infrastructure, and around 40,000 passengers used the line on the day of the incident. “Even on the day of the flooding and today, metro trains have been running safely. The station is expected to reopen within a day or two,” Bhide assured commuters.
The MMRC is now working on a permanent solution to prevent such incidents in future, she added, urging the public not to panic and reiterating that the metro system remains safe and operational.
