Mumbai : Commuters waiting to boa-rd the Janta Express were left in a lurch after the driver of the Mumbai Central-Firozpur Janata Express skipped the train’s scheduled halt at Dadar on Monday. The train was bought to a halt between Matunga and Mahim after the commuters on board pulled the chain of the train, bringing it to a halt after it had left Mumbai Central at 7:25 am.
After the sudden halt between the two stations, the train was sent on an unused line (loop line) at Andheri where that train was held for about 40 minutes. Despite Andheri being another unscheduled halt, the train was stopped there and commuters from Dadar were asked to reach at Andheri. The commuters at Dadar station were asked to board any local train and reach Andheri to catch the passenger train stationed there. An official from WR said, “We ensured that none of the commuters were left behind. The commuters that were stuck at Dadar were given special provision to catch any local and reach Andheri where they could board this passenger train.”
When the train reached Vasai the driver along with the assistant driver and the guard were taken off duty to conduct alcohol test as per the procedure. The driver identified as RR Tripathi has been suspended along with the assistant driver and guard while an inquiry into the matter had been ordered.
A source from Western Railway (WR) said, “The driver of the train along with the assistant driver were tested for alcohol where the results were negative. The driver of the train was from Valsad and seems to have forgotten the scheduled halt.”
It is the second such incident in merely a week when the commuters were inconvenienced due to the negligence of drivers. On Friday, the commuters going to their hometown were stuck at Roha for an hour as the driver of the train refused to take the train ahead in absence of the relief driver which was to be deployed by Konkan Railway (KR).
