Mumbai: For the second consecutive day, services on the Main line of the Central Railway (CR) were disrupted for more than an hour on Wednesday afternoon, after engine failure stalled an express train near Atgaon station. However, CR officials said there was no problem and local trains were running on time. According to sources, both up and down line services were affected, causing trains to run late by 35-40 minutes. “Engine failure of an express train was reported near Atgaon station in the afternoon, due to which trains services on both lines came to a standstill,” said an official.
Commuters on stranded local trains were forced to alight midway and walk to the nearest station, while those waiting at other stations complained that CR failed to make proper announcements. “We can understand if there is an engine or signal failure, but it is the duty of railways to keep commuters informed about delay in services in a timely manner, not after the expected train is already late by over 10 minutes,” said a commuter. Another commuter said, CR trains are routinely delayed by 15-20 minutes for inexplicable reasons, forcing them to leave home well in advance to account for such eventualities. “The work done by railways is appreciable but it is not clear what work is done every weekend when they observe mega blocks, because at least twice a week, there is a problem due to technical issues,” said the commuter.
“I have factored in such occurrences into my schedule, as every other day, CR is suddenly beset with some problem, causing trains to be delayed or cancelled. And worst of all, we are not informed about such incidents and remain stranded in the train for hours,” said Rajesh Chavan, a commuter.