Mumbai train services hit as commuters go on rampage

Suburban Thane witnessed commuter rage on Friday as irate Mumbaikars pelted stones at police and staged a rasta roko after train services on Central Railway’s local route were disrupted due to technical failure, prompting police to cane-charge the protestors.

It all started after passengers at Diva (a suburb of Mumbai) went on the rampage protesting a snag caused by a broken pantograph (the equipment on an EMU rake to draw electricity from overhead wires).

This led to delay in Mumbai’s local trains as power supply was switched off.

Rakes damaged Suburban services in Mumbai are likely to remain affected after damage to 10 EMU rakes caused by rampaging miscreants. These rakes have been sent for repairs. Central Railway had to cancel 134 services on Friday out of the total 1,618 services that it runs using 121 EMU rakes, transporting over 40 lakh commuters each day.

Central Railway will face difficulty in running services from Mumbai CST to far flung suburbs such as Kasara (121 km from Mumbai CST), Karjat (100 km from Mumbai CST) and Khopoli (120 km from Mumbai CST) for the next couple of days

Services on mainline — CST-Kalyan-Kasara/Karjat/Khopoli — would remain affected till such time the rakes are put back in service.

Railway Board Chairman AK Mital will meet the General Managers of Central and Western Railways in Mumbai to discuss measures for improving the suburban railway network.

Seven automatic ticket vending machines (ATVM), three booking counters and one level-crossing gate at Diva railway station besides two booking counters and six ATVMs at Dombivali railway station have been damaged.

The incident also affected Central Railway’s harbour branch where train services were delayed, passengers said. Railway unions have demanded protection for motormen.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has asked Minister of State for Home, Ranjeet Patil, to oversee the work of normalisation of train services.

Sources in the Chief Minister’s office said that a detailed review of the situation would be carried out after the Prime Minister’s visit to Maharashtra is completed.

Long-haul trains rescheduled Meanwhile, Central Railway has rescheduled the departure timings of five long-distance trains. They are-11009 Mumbai-Pune Sinhagad Exp from 2.30 pm to 5.50 pm, 12139 Mumbai-Nagpur Sewagram Exp from 3.00 pm to 7.10 pm, 12105 Mumbai-Gondia Vidarbha Exp from 7.10 pm to 9.25 pm, 12137 Mumbai-Ferozpur Punjab Mail from 7.40 pm to 12.20 am (Saturday) and 12322 Mumbai-Howrah Mail via Allahabad from 9.30 pm to 4.30 am on Saturday.