Three wagons of a goods train derail; Harbour services disrupted

Mumbai: Suburban services between Kurla and CST in the Harbour corridor were stopped after three wagons of a goods train derailed today, inconveniencing daily office commuters in the morning rush hours, Central Railway officials said. Harbour line services were affected due to goods train derailment between Wadala and GTB Nagar stations at 4:15 AM, said Central Railway PRO A K Singh. A Mandoli-bound goods train had crossed Wadala station when three rear wagons of the trains derailed, said Singh adding the efforts of re-railing were on at war-footing.

The remaining 37 wagons of the derailed train have been dispatched to the destination, he said. Our team of engineers along with the senior officers are at the spot and doing every bit to restore the services as soon as possible, Singh said. Meanwhile, another senior officer said Main line and Trans Harbour trains were running on schedule and Harbour passengers have been permitted to travel on these routes. Also, trains from Panvel (towards CST) are being terminated at Kurla.

CR is running additional local trains between Vashi to Thane for enabling passengers to reach CST via Thane, as Kurla harbour line services have been affected, said the official. To ease peak hour travel, we have spoken to BEST undertaking too to run additional services between Kurla to CST, he added. However, office-goers and students faced a harrowing time with huge rush at Kurla station due to delay of local trains.

Trains are running more than half an hour behind schedule, due to bunching en-route to Kurla, a commuter, Shikha Singh claimed. Another commuter Kripa complained, "I was waiting for a CST-bound train since 6.30 AM at Kharghar but there were none which led to chaos and confusion at the station. I could only see overcrowded trains towards Thane which were difficult to board."