After expressway mishap, MSRDC works on emergency plan to avoid repeat gridlock

“Such an incident has not happened before,” said Managing Director of the MSRDC Anil Kumar Gaikwad.

“As per the emergency response plan, quick response vehicles, ambulances and fire fighting vehicles immediately kicked into place. But as the situation was so grave, safety was paramount and there was little we could do.”

Gaikwad said that after the tanker overturned three of its valves were damaged leading to a continuous leak of propylene gas.

With around 21 metric tonnes of highly flammable gas on board and a safety radius of at least 15 metres required to prevent explosions, authorities had no option but to stop traffic on the Mumbai-bound lanes.

The 13.3-km Missing Link project which will bypass the 19.8 km accident-prone ghat section between Khandala and Lonavala is expected to significantly ease traffic flow.

Vehicles were rerouted onto a single lane of the Pune-bound carriageway while two lanes were kept open for Pune-bound traffic. Additional diversions were made to the four-lane Old Mumbai Pune Highway.

The diversion effectively squeezed traffic from 10 lanes – six on the Expressway and four on the old highway – into just seven lanes, many of them carrying heavy vehicles resulting in massive congestion that lasted over a day.

An MSRDC official said stopping the gas leak itself proved to be a major challenge. “Getting experts in the chemical and mechanical machinations of stopping the leak at the eleventh hour and have them reach the spot in time proved to be a challenge,” the official said.
“In the case of a toppling of a tanker with non-hazardous cargo, our responses can get the tanker upright within an hour. But this was not such a simple task.”

While chemical experts and the National Disaster Response Force reached the site on Tuesday night it, took the entire day on Wednesday to transfer the flammable gas into other tankers. The overturned vehicle was finally towed away by 1 am on Thursday allowing traffic to resume on the Mumbai-bound carriageway. Normal traffic flow was restored only by Thursday noon.

“There is always scope of improvement which is what we will work on for the contingency plan,” the official said. “But the permanent solution to such a problem and to ensure a traffic jam of this magnitude does not return is the Missing Link.”

Gaikwad added that police would examine possible action against the tanker operator noting that responsibility lies with the transporter to ensure the safe movement of hazardous materials.

The 13.3-km Missing Link project which will bypass the 19.8 km accident-prone ghat section between Khandala and Lonavala is expected to significantly ease traffic flow. Connecting Kusgaon and Khopoli through two tunnels measuring 1.64 km and 8.9 km and cable stayed bridges, the route will cut travel time between Mumbai and Pune by about 30 minutes. Vehicles carrying hazardous chemicals will not be permitted to use the stretch.