Eight hundred trains cancelled, five hundred specials roped in

Following the bridge collapse, the railways canceled both fast and slow train services along the affected section.
Express Photo by Ganesh Tendulkar

SUBURBAN rail travel on the Western Railway came to a standstill with close to 800 services canceled and 500 special trains pressed into service.

While services on 10 passenger trains were canceled, 28 had to be re-scheduled. Through emergency help desks and announcements, the railways alerted commuters and passengers stranded in long-distance trains about the delays.

Following the bridge collapse, the railways canceled both fast and slow train services along the affected section. Services continued to ply between Churchgate-Bandra and Goregaon-Virar Train services on the Western harbor line from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) to Goregaon also remained suspended, though services on this line were the first to resume at 2 pm.

The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking plied 415 additional bus services to manage the additional crowds on the roads. Banking professional Avni Mishra, who was in a Churchgate-bound train from Goregaon, complained that she only learnt about the incident an hour after the collapse. “I saw a row of trains parked behind one another. While we waited for close to 30 minutes for train services to resume, there was no sign of it. I had to walk on the tracks to reach Goregaon station and from there take a cab to office,” she said.

Many commuters said they preferred returning home. “I live in Navi Mumbai and wanted to head to Goregaon for work. As train services were disrupted and taxis charging exorbitant sums, I preferred to work from home,” said Pallavi Iyer, a software professional.

The Central Railway extended Kurla bound services to Ghatkopar to help with the rush of commuters on the Ghatkopar-Andheri Metro 1 corridor. “We opened extra counters at Dadar and Ghatkopar. All sectional inspectors manned their stations. Announcements were on to allow passengers on the harbor line (between CSMT and Andheri) to travel on the main line. After the services resumed, we ran 12 additional train services between 5 pm-7 pm between CSMT-Goregaon,” said Sunil Udasi, chief spokesperson, CR.