Central Railway on Friday assured normalisation of crucial suburban services by evening, three days after a fire disrupted its network resulting in overcrowded trains that claimed three lives, an official said.
By Thursday night, barring minor glitches, Central Railway claimed to have normalised up to 85 percent of its suburban operations. By Friday evening, services would be normalised up to 95 percent.
“As the restoration work is nearing completion, we hope that by Friday evening, the situation should return to normal and provide relief to the commuters,” a Central Railway official said.
The services on the slow and fast tracks connecting Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) with the suburbs and distant towns in adjoining Thane and Raigad districts slowly got back to normalcy.
Train services, both suburban and long-distance, had been disrupted since early Wednesday after a fire gutted the main signal cabin at Kurla station.
The disruptions led to disarray in the services on the harbour line and Western Railway, all of which comprise the lifeline of Mumbai, ferrying over eight million commuters daily.
BEST and MSRTC (Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation) will continue to run additional services Friday to clear the rush of commuters.
