Central Railway services hit again within 12 hours

MUMBAI: Central Railway witnessed its second disruption in 12 hours after a rail fracture was reported near Thakurli station on Thursday morning. Several commuters were inconvenienced as trains were delayed during peak hours and six services were cancelled.

"The rail fracture was detected on the Up slow line between Kalyan and Thakurli around 8am. Four services were diverted on the Up fast line between Kalyan and Diva stations, and six Down (Kalyan to Kurla) services were cancelled," said CR spokesperson A K Singh.

CR chief public relations officer Atul Rane explained that a rail fracture did not mean that it was "unsafe for trains to ply". "When there is a hairline rail fracture, it automatically affects the signalling system. So, when we notice that there is something wrong with the signal, we immediately examine the tracks for rail fracture," said Rane, adding that the problem was identified and rectified within half an hour.

On Wednesday night too, commuters had faced were put to hardship as services were badly hit due to a "signal failure" near CSTPassengers had also complained of no proper announcements on platforms, and the crowds kept increasing on Chinchpokli, Currey Road and Parel stations were packed with the office crowd waiting to catch a train back home. "It is really bad to face another day of disruption," said Vimal Shah, who had experienced the delay in services on Wednesday night too and also on Thursday morning. "As trains were delayed by 20 minutes, there was a mad rush of passengers at the station." Even as a We waited impatiently as a train arrived, but this too was packed with commuters. Very few of us managed to board and the rest had to wait for another 15 minutes for the next train. It was frustrating,'' he recalled.

CR chief public relations officer Atul Rane explained that a rail fracture did not mean that it was "unsafe for trains to ply".

"When there is a hairline rail fracture, it automatically affects the signalling system. So, when we notice that there is something wrong with the signal, we immediately examine the tracks for rail fracture," said Rane. He stated that the problem was identified and rectified within half an hour. "We also diverted all slow trains from the fast tracks and ensured that services did not come to a standstill,'' he added
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