On Monday, the Central Railway's suburban services faced severe disruptions, causing significant inconvenience to thousands of commuters. The morning began with a signal failure at Thane station.
According to sources, disruption, which began at 9:16 am, brought all lines, including up and down slow and fast lines, to a halt, causing significant inconvenience during the morning rush hours. Reports indicated that nearly hundred trains were cancelled, while hundreds of others experienced delays as a result of the signal failure. Although Central Railway authorities stated that the issue was resolved around 10:15 am, the cascading effects persisted, causing delays well into the afternoon.
Sources also revealed that the problem originated from the signaling panel at Thane station, which suddenly ceased to function, resulting in all signals turning red. This affected trains across various corridors at Thane station, including slow, fast, and mainline, as well as the trans-harbour route.
Later in the day, the suburban services were again thrown into chaos due to a combination of natural elements. A thunderstorm accompanied by heavy winds disrupted services in the evening, compounding the challenges faced by Central Railway. This natural disruption, coupled with an overhead mast bending on the down slow line between Mulund and Thane around 4 pm, further exacerbated the situation. Several slow trains were diverted to fast corridors, adding to the confusion and delays.
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Passengers bore the brunt of these disruptions, with reports of stranded trains and commuters being forced to walk along the tracks to reach their destinations. The cascading effects of the signal failure and subsequent incidents underscored the vulnerability of the rail network to technical malfunctions and natural occurrences.However efforts to rectify the issues were initiated promptly, with restoration work underway as soon as the problems were reported.
However, the delays and cancellations had a widespread impact, affecting not only Thane station but also neighboring stations like CSMT, Dadar, Kurla , Thane Kalyan and Dombivli and other prominent stations, where large crowds of commuters were stranded.
"This series of disruptions highlights the critical need for timely maintenance and robust contingency plans within the Central Railway" said Bholanath Sharma a regular commuters of Kalyan . According to Bhola, he was boarded 5.17 pm CSMT - Asangaon fast train, which was reached at 7.20 pm at Kalyan almost 50 minutes behind the shedule..Similarly Devika Rani of Dombivli said, "It was a worst day for local commuters of CRs mai ln line We were stranded in the local train up and down both directions ie morning and evening"
WR suburban services also affected during evening rush hour
Due to some technical issues with western railway suburban services were also affected during evening rush hours. According to sources some issues with over head equipment was reported at around 4.30 pm on WR nearly Borivali and a track failure was reported at Malad . Similarly signal was not working properly at Charni Road during evening rush hour.Divisional railway manager of WRs Mumbai Central division posted on 'X', on Monday evening at around 5.09 pm
"Due to technical issues, all Western Line suburban trains are currently running behind schedule by 15-20 minutes. Please plan your journey accordingly and stay tuned for updates."
A piece of cloth got entangled on the OHE near Airport Road Metro station
Due to heavy wind a piece of cloth got entangled on the OHE near Airport Road Metro station, resulting in disruption of metro service. Its happed ar around 4.25 pm, which was restored at 4.35 pm. Maha Mumbai Metro Operation Corporation posted on 'X' , "Metro services are currently running smoothly. Our dedicated staff responded promptly to address an issue and resolved it in a timely manner. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and appreciate your understanding"
