Mumbai: It was not just another manic Monday for Central Railway commuters — the usual, unannounced delays and abrupt cancellation of services — but a miraculous one, thanks to an alert key man, who diligently kept his eyes on the track. A huge accident was averted after he spotted a rail fracture between Tilak Nagar and Kurla stations and promptly informed the motorman of a CSMT-bound train from Panvel.
However, though thousands of lives were saved, stranded commuters were unable to get off the train and go by bus instead — because of the ongoing BEST strike. According to railway officials, there was a crack on the Harbour line track, due to which suburban rail services were disrupted for over 15 minutes. “The crack was spotted by a keyman between Kurla and Tilak Nagar stations and he took immediate action, which saved many lives,” said an official.
Railway authorities have decided to reward the keyman, whose timely action averted a huge mishap. “Mukesh Kumar, the keyman, noticed a crack in the rail line and alerted the motorman of the Panvel local going to CSMT,” said an official. A senior railway official said, the services had to be briefly shut down, from 9.17 am to 9.32 am, during peak hours on Monday morning. A K Jain, the senior public relations officer, CR, said “As soon as the track fracture was reported we immediately sent a repair team to the spot. The services were delayed for 10-15 minutes and restored by 9.35 am.”
Swati Chitnis, a commuter, said, “The 15-minute delay wasnothing, everyone is already coming late to work due to the ongoing BEST strike.” Another commuter said that despite regular mega blocks by CR and WR every Sunday, commuters continue to suffer delays regularly and face threats like track cracks during their journey. The railways does all other work to get praise but always fails on issues such as basic maintenance of tracks, which leads to such rail fractures. Kudos to the keyman for identifying the crack in the nick of time and informing the concerned officer immediately,” said Sachin Patil, a Chembur resident
