Mumbai local train services Western Railway network were disrupted in the rush hours of Tuesday morning due to a technical snag at Santacruz and Bhayandar stations causing chaos among commuters at the station.
A glitch in the signalling system at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) disrupted the suburban services on the Central Railway for around 45 minutes on Tuesday afternoon.
Even though the failed track changing points at both these locations were restored in less than an hour, the commuters faced 25-30 minutes delay.
The trains and the stations were overcrowded and chaos prevailed on Tuesday morning in most stations of the local train stations in Mumbai.
Due to this, the office-goers and other commuters faced a tough time in the rush hour.
"As suburban services were hit, the crowd at Virar station has swelled," a commuter, who travels daily to Churchgate, where his office is located.
A Western Railway spokesperson said the points failure at the Bhayandar station occurred at 5 am and it was restored at 5.45 am, while the fault at the Santacruz station took place at 5.20 am and was rectified at 5.50 am.
What is 'point failures' in train services?
The authorities said that the technical snag was identified as 'point failures' which is means a fault with the movable pieces of track or their operating equipment that enable trains to change tracks.
Train services hit at CMST in afternoon
The technical snag in the signalling system of UP and DOWN slow lines on the Main Line of the Central Railway occurred around 2.30 pm, which resulted in bunching of locals on tracks.
As the CSMT-bound trains queued up on tracks, scores of passengers started jumping off the bogies and walking along the tracks.
Commuters said that services on both Slow and Fast routes on the Main Line were affected due to the issue and the trains were running 20 to 30 minutes late.
A spokesperson of Central Railway said the glitch in the signalling system developed around 2.30 pm, affecting the traffic and the traffic resumed. The snag was rectified around 3.15 pm.
The Western Railway operates more than 1,300 suburban services and nearly 35 lakh commuters travel on its network spread between Churchgate in South Mumbai and Dahanu in Palghar district on a daily basis.
The Central Railway operates more than 1,800 suburban services on its four suburban corridors - Main, Harbour, Trans-Harbour and Belapur-Uran - and ferry around 40 lakh commuters.
(With PTI inputs)
