The suburban local services on the main and Harbour line of Central Railway were affected for the third consecutive day on Friday, as three major incidents and a death brought the services to a standstill.
“In all, there were three incidents on the main and Harbour line. In the first incident, a cable exploded at Reay Road, followed by a rail fracture at Kasara station in the morning. Finally, in the evening, a person climbed an overhead electrical pole between Ambivali and Titwala and died,” an official from the Central Railway said.
After the Belapur-CST local passed Reay Road at 9.30 am, a signal cable burst, leading to smoking. Initially, the officials thought that the smoke was from one of the coaches of the local, but later realised that it was due a signal cable failure. This resulted in trains being detained on the Harbour Line for half-an-hour and cancellation of five services.
Then at around 7 am, a fracture was reported on the railway track at Kasara, again throwing the schedule out of gear. The movement of suburban locals was affected for over an hour.
However, at 5.50 pm, a mentally unstable person was spotted climbing the overhead electrical pole between Ambivali-Titwala railway stations by a motorman. The man was declared dead on admission in Rukminibai Hospital in Kalyan. The services beyond Kalyan were suspended till 8.20 pm.