Amid power outages in Mumbai, local trains between Churchgate and Andheri came to a halt, forcing commuters to deboard trains and walk on tracks. (Express photo) A power outage hit several areas in Mumbai on Sunday morning after the Mulund-Trombay line tripped, following which supply was restored by around 10.45 pm. Train services also resumed after a brief disruption.
State energy department head Dinesh Waghmare attributed the outage to a fire in the BARC mountains in the Trombay area. Several places in the city, including Sion, Matunga, Parel, Dadar, CSMT, Byculla, Churchgate, parts of Chembur, Bandra and Kurla experienced the power outage.
Waghmare said, “The Mulund Trombay line passes through the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) area. The conductor had snapped. We are told that this happened due to a fire in the BARC mountains. Our people have gone there, but initially they did not allow us to enter the area and do repairs. The Sunday morning requirement was 2,200 MW and there was a shortage of 800 MW due to this failure. Power supply is normal now.”
“The 220kV Mulund-Trombay line tripped at 8.47 am. The location of the fault was 0.26 km from Trombay side and the line had tripped due to a fire in the mountains of the BARC area,” he explained.
A statement from the Tata Power Company said, “This morning, the Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company Limited (MSETCL) transmission line from Kalwa to Trombay had massive voltage fluctuations causing tripping of Trombay Salsette-1 on overload. This affected the South Mumbai electricity distribution system.”
“However, Tata Power’s Hydro plants were intact, and the Bhira Hydro Plant got islanded and synchronized. Electricity has been restored to essential services. Tata Power team is working towards full restoration soon,” it added.
A Tata Power spokesperson said: “At 9.50 hrs, in South Mumbai, Chembur, Bandra and Santacruz suburb areas, along with Central and part Western Railway, power supply got affected due to tripping of MSETCL line at MSETCL Trombay receiving station that connects to Tata Power transmission system. This resulted in tripping of Trombay generation and cascade tripping of some internal lines affecting the 850 MW load of all discoms in Mumbai. Tata Power immediately stepped up hydro generation to full capacity for faster restoration and avoidance of larger outage. Power supply was restored completely in around an hour.”
An Adani Electricity Mumbai Ltd (AEML) spokesperson said its consumers were largely unaffected “as we were able to ramp up generation at Dahanu in a very short time. This helped early restoration of consumers in South Mumbai.”
Speaking to The Indian Express, a spokesperson for the Western Railway said train services were affected from 9.42 am to 10.45 am between Churchgate and Andheri station and supply was diverted from Jogeshwari area to resume the services.
Train No 12954 August Kranti Rajdhani Express arrived late at Mumbai Central by around 30 minutes. About 50 suburban trains were cancelled and 140 trains delayed due to the disruption.
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