Mumbai: For Central Railway commuters, it was a crippling rush hour commute on the second day of the New Year, as three back-to-back incidents of rail fractures and loco-engine failure were reported on Central, Harbour and Trans-harbour line, between 8.20am to 9.25 am on Wednesday.
According to sources, rail fractures were reported between Sion and Kurla stations (8-8.30am) on the Down fast track, another on the Vashi-Trans Harbour corridor between 8.20 and 8.28am and a third on the track between Thane and Mulund stations between 9.05 and 9.25am. There was a loco-engine failure on the Neral-Vangani Up line.
To avoid chaos on the platforms till the problem was resolved, some trains were diverted to the slow track. Due to a rail fracture, there was a bunching of trains, which was resolved soon and services were normalised,” said a railway official. Commuters were late to work in the New Year, with trains running 40-45 minutes behind schedule during peak hours, causing inconvenience to scores of passengers, especially on the Karjat-CSMT and Kasara-CSMT routes.
Railway authorities enforce mega blocks five to six hours every Sunday, in the name of maintaining the tracks, overhead wires and other technical work. Despite all these efforts, at least thrice a week, there is some problem or the other, causing services to be delayed,” said an irate regular commuter, Sneha Sharma.
Further, she said, most times there is no proper announcement when trains are delayed, causing inconvenience and confusion. “Trains are abruptly cancelled, which leads to chaos on platforms, which can create a stampede-like situation,” Sharma said.
Punctuality takes a hit, say office-goers and complain about being pulled up by their bosses who think they are giving the same excuse for reaching late. “Every day I have to reach the construction site by 10am, but trains on Central line are invariably late and I reach 20 minutes after my boss is on the spot.
I have now been asked to leave home an hour before the time I have been leaving,” said Asif Khan, of Irani Architect, Colaba. “At this rate, I will get little time for myself and family. This is something companies or bosses do not realise,” said Khan.