Services between Goregaon and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) were suspended for nearly four hours after a local train derailed between Mahim and King Circle stations. The incident occurred around 11.28 a.m. when a train from CSMT was on its way to Bandra. While there were no injuries reported, the services on the corridor were suspended until 3.32 p.m.
According to railway officials, four wheels derailed at a curved section of the track as the train was entering the Western Railway’s (WR) jurisdiction. WR general manager A.K. Gupta said an inquiry committee has been set up to investigate the derailment.
WR officials said the presence of a large amount of garbage on the tracks could have caused the derailment. “Many times garbage and torn clothes are thrown on the tracks by residents of slums adjoining the tracks. The size of some of the garbage is large enough to derail coaches,” a WR official said.
WR chief public relations officer Ravinder Bhakar said despite regularly cleaning the tracks it is humanly impossible to prevent such accumulation through the day. “This is a serious cause of concern for us to ply trains safely in this stretch. All stabling lines built at the locations have blocked at Mahim due to encroachments.”
Officials said the inquiry will also look at the curvature of tracks and check if there was any defect found in the wheel of the train. In August 2017, nearly six coaches of a local train got derailed in the same area. The Commissioner of Railway Safety had then said that the tracks, which were laid by the Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation, did not meet the prescribed specifications and had a higher degree of curvature.
