Mumbaikars Protest on Railway Tracks After Delay in Local Trains

Mumbai: Chaotic scenes are being witnessed in Mumbai after suburban services of Central Railway were crippled due to waterlogging and technical snags that badly hit the movement of commuters and office-goers.

Commuters protested at railway tracks in Diva station due to train delays. The protest began after there was a delay of trains between Thane and Kalyan by 30 minutes.

On Monday, too, the local train services of Western Railway (WR) were disrupted for nearly an hour following power failure caused by theft of a battery box at Mahim station.

Heavy rains since Monday night and subsequent waterlogging at five vulnerable spots, failure of Mandovi Express engine at Dadar station, passengers' outcry at Diva station and a landslide caution near Parsik tunnel near Mumbra severely affected the suburban train operations of Central Railway this morning, a senior railway official said.

He said the problem started with waterlogging at Mankhurd, Vidyavihar, Vikhroli, Bhandup and Thane suburban stations in wee hours on Monday, which led to reduced train speed. This caused bunching of the trains on certain rail tracks.

The woes of commuters increased after the engine failure of Mandovi Express was reported at Dadar station. Because of this, the fast trains were being diverted to the slow line.

"Additionally, few passengers came on the tracks due to unavailability of space on platforms at Diva station which prompted railway police and RPF authorities to deploy the additional force at the station to prevent any untoward incident," said the official.

The problem further worsened after officials cautioned about a possible landslide near the Parsik tunnel, through which the trains pass.

"The railway immediately passed a caution order to the motormen to reduce the speed of local trains," the official said, adding that all these reasons led to cancellation and diversion of several trains.

Central Railway's Senior PRO A K Jain said, "We were keeping our passengers informed through all possible medium, including social media, FM radio and electronic media about the situation."

(With PTI inputs)