Nearly 75 lakh commuters who use Mumbai’s local trains each day were badly hit as heavy overnight rain in Mumbai and its suburbs threw rail services out of gear.
Commuters reported water logging at many places such as Kurla, Tilak Nagar, Chembur, Vidya Vihar and Matunga train services were suspended on Central Railway’s main line between Mumbai CST and Thane, and between Mumbai CST and Mankhurd on the harbour line.
On the Western Railway, the overflowing Dharawi Nallah resulted in water logging at Matunga Road station, suspending suburban services between Andheri and Churchgate.
“Long distance trains are going only up to Lokmanya Tilak Terminus and not to Mumbai CST and Dadar,” tweeted Narendra Patil, Chief Public Relations Officer Central Railway.
Most offices reported thin attendance with people staying home. The Railways issued an advisory that commuters travel only in case of emergency. Meanwhile, a high tide hit the city at 2 p.m.
Cancellations galore Many long distance trains arriving/departing Mumbai were short terminated / cancelled/ re-scheduled.
Trains whose journey commenced on Friday, such as the Deccan Express, Mumbai-Pune inter-city express, Mumbai-Pune Indrayani express, Pune-Solapur inter-city express, Solapur-Pune inter-city express, Pune-Mumbai Indrayani express, Dadar-Madgaon Janshatabdi express, Mumbai-Hazur Sahib Nanded Tapovan express and the Mumbai-Bhusaval passenger were cancelled.
Trains cancelled on Saturday, June 20 are the Madgaon-Dadar Janshatabdi express,Hazur Sahib Nanded-Mumbai Tapovan express and the Bhusaval-Mumbai passenger.
The Pune Mumbai Sinhagad Express was short terminated at Kalyan and returned to Pune via Panvel. Others that were short-terminated include Pragati Exp at Panvel, Manmad-Mumbai Panchvati Exp at Kasara; Manmad- Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) at Nasik Road; Sewagram Express at Igatpuri and Sahyadri Exp at Chinchwad near Pune. The prestigious Deccan Queen was short-terminated at Lonavala.