It was another day of misery for scores of railway passengers on Wednesday as technical snags during the morning and evening peak hours disrupted the services of both Central and Western railways.
The first disruption was reported on the Harbour Line when an overhead wire snapped between Vashi and Mankhurd at 9.11 am, a time when e passenger density in the trains is at its peak.
Due to this, suburban services between Vashi and Mankhurd were suspended from 9.11 am to 9.32 am. Furthermore, the timetable of the future trains was affected due to subsequent delays. “Three suburban services on Harbour Line were cancelled and one service was partially cancelled due to this incident,” read an official CR release. Trains were running 20 to 25 minutes behind schedule due to this disruption during the morning peak hours. Meanwhile, those who were left stranded inside trains took to the tracks to reach nearby stations and opt for alternative modes of transport. CR stated, “Continuous announcements through public address system at the station were made for the benefit of passengers”. Services on main line and trans-harbour line were running as per schedule.
However, in the latter part of the day, there was a failure at the crossover at Churchgate, affecting the suburban services on WR also. “There was a point failure on a crossover at Churchgate at about 4 pm. Five trains were delayed or short-terminated at Mumbai Central. The point was put right at about 4.30 pm,” said C.N.K. David, public relations officer, WR.
During the entire period of the failure, certain services were run up to Mumbai Central. Large numbers of passengers were also left stranded at Churchgate railway station. Bunching of trains was reported near Marine Lines railway station. “The train was terminated at Mumbai Central after which I opted for a taxi to reach Churchgate, but as many passengers had taken to the roads too, there was no taxi available for a long time,” said Ashish Shelar (32).