Mumbai : The morning peak hour traffic on Central Railway (CR) was affected on the second consecutive day as the trains were running with a delay of 40 minutes. The delay was due to non-availability of the 10 rakes that were damaged during the clash at Diva on Friday and it was aggravated with a truck getting stuck at a level crossing gate at Titwala.
Both the trains on the up line (towards CST) and down line (towards Kalyan) were running late. The rakes that were damaged had to undergo extensive repair over night and despite assurance from the senior railway officials the rakes were only inducted in the existing services by 12:45 pm. A total of 300 staffers were put to work for eight long hours to repair the 10 rakes that had been internally damaged.
The Divisional Railway Manager of CR, Mukesh Nigam said, “The traffic was affected as only two trains could be inducted during the morning peak hour while a truck was stuck at the Titwala level crossing at 7.15 am which added to the problem.”
The truck was stuck at the Titwala crossing for 35 minutes due to which the up and down line of both fast and slow corridor were affected. The CR officials will now approach the transport secretary for allowing them to keep the level crossing closed during the morning and evening peak hours. They already had first round of meeting with the Thane traffic police who expressed helplessness. A senior railway official from CR said, “We had the first round of meeting with the traffic DCP of that section but it seems they cannot allow us to keep the gates close even during the morning and evening peak hours.”
On an average about 90 trains are affected during the peak hours each day at the level crossing at Diva, Thakurli, Ambivali and Kalyan.
