Drought crisis: Latur eagerly awaits for a 50-wagon water train

Water train carrying potable water on it’s way to Latur from Miraj. It is part of an intiative by Railway ministry and state government to providewater to the drought hit areas in Maharashtra. (Express photo: Arul Horizon)

With Latur staring at its “worst ever” water crisis in decades, with its main source of drinking water, the Manjara dam, completely dry since February, the state government has decided to send trains filled with water from Vaarna dam in Miraj, 8 km from Sangli town. (Express Photo: Arul Horizon)

A worker fixes the lid of one of the tankers carrying water to Latur. (Express photo: Arul Horizon)

Trial runs of the train have been on since Monday, when the first train with its 10 wagons carrying 5 lakh litres of water set off from Miraj and reached Latur, 342 km away, the following morning. (Express photo: Arul Horizon)

A worker filling water into one of the tankers carrying water to Latur. (Express photo: Arul Horizon)

At the Miraj railway station, it’s a different set of logistics. With the existing water filling facilities, it takes three hours to fill one wagon if, as railway officials say, “things go as planned”. And they haven’t quite been. (Express photo: Arul Horizon)

Two teams of the railway’s technical staff and labourers have been working in three shifts — 9 pm to 4 am, 6 am to 9 am and 2 pm to 8 pm — to fill the wagons. At the end of every shift, the train has to be moved from platform number two, where the filling usually happens, back to the yard to make space for other trains to halt at the busy station. (Express photo: Arul Horizon)

The Sangli district administration is also laying a new pipeline to connect the railway water treatment plant at Miraj with the yard, where a new filling station is being built. (Express Photo: Arul Horizon)

At the end of every shift, the train has to be moved from platform number two, where the filling usually happens, back to the yard to make space for other trains to halt at the busy station. (Express photo: Arul Horizon)