Western Railway train services back on track

MUMBAI: Western Railway (WR) took almost an entire day to limp back to normalcy as waterlogging continued to affect running of trains in the Vasai-Virar belt.
WR was able to put 71 of the 81 rakes back into service by Wednesday evening.

WR services faced around 130 cancellations as these 10 rakes were marooned in the Virar car shed, which was waterlogged and the power supply was switched off. Around 40 services were consequently delayed.

WR’s divisional railway manager S K Mishra said, “We worked day and night to restore services by using pumps to flush out the water.” It also had to cancel AC train services for the entire day.

WR’s chief public relations officer Ravinder Bhakar said, “After relentless efforts, suburban railway traffic resumed at 6am between Dahanu and Virar. The first local train from Virar to Churchgate ran at 6.22am whereas the first down slow local from Churchgate to Virar started at 8.50am. By 2.15pm, the remaining down fast line was restored too and all the four lines were opened between Vasai and Virar.”

Suspension of services from Virar agitated commuters who gathered outside the station master’s cabin to demand early restoration. WR had allowed passengers between Virar and Nalasopara to board general compartments of long-distance trains.

Apart from 15 cancellations on Wednesday, WR has also decided to cancel Golden Temple Mail and Mumbai Central-Ahmedabad Shatabdi Express on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Central Railway's modified loco, which can do shunting duties to pull marooned rakes from water, successfully pulled Secunderabad-Rajkot train, which was locked in eight inches of water at Vasai station.