Thousands of Mumbaiites had a harrowing time on Wednesday morning after a fire in the main signalling cabins at two suburban stations here threw the railway schedules out of gear and severely hit services on the central and harbour railway lines. The spill-over resulted in traffic jams in the suburban areas in the morning rush hours. Many local and long-distance trains had to be cancelled or rescheduled due to the fire.
Though repair work was undertaken on war-footing, railway officials said that it would take two-three days for the services to return to normal. Trains were running 40-45 minutes late throughout Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Mumbai University, which is conducting examination for 30 post-graduate, undergraduate and diploma courses, issued instructions to all the examination centres to allow students to report late for the exam. Many office-goers too had to spend hours in the train.
Echo in legislature
The issue was raised in the Maharashtra Legislature as well and the Opposition demanded that the State government grant relief to the office-goers and students who reached late on Wednesday.
“It took people three-and-a-half to four hours to reach Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) from Thane today. So many people come to work from Karjat, Badlapur and far-off areas. They have all been affected severely. The State government should give them some relief,” Bharatiya Janata Party leader Vinod Tawde said in the State Legislative Council.
He also demanded that the State government temporarily start plying more State transport buses from Karjat and Badlapur areas to provide relief to the commuters. “The problem is expected to persist for the next two days. Please make suitable arrangements that the office-goers are allowed to report late to work,” he said.
The Opposition also demanded that the Mumbai University examinations be postponed for a day in view of the problem.
Chavan's assurance
Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan assured the House that the State government would do everything possible to reduce the woes of the commuters.
The railway authorities too approached the State government on Wednesday morning requesting them to release more BEST buses and ST buses in the affected areas. They halted all express trains at Kalyan, Karjat and Kasara, allowing valid season pass holders to travel in them till CST.
A fire broke out at the main signalling cabins of Kurla and Vidyavihar railway stations in the midnight on Wednesday. It was immediately brought under control by the fire brigade and the situation was reported normal at 12.30 a.m., officials said.
3-member probe panel
The railways have appointed a three-member committee to ascertain the cause of the fire and the estimated losses. The committee will also give recommendations to avoid such mishaps in the future.
Precautionary measure
No loss of life was reported due to the fire. But it burnt down the electric and signal cable network at the two suburban stations, forcing the railway authorities to shut down services on all the lines at Kurla and Vidyavihar from 12.30 a.m. to 3.30 a.m. as a precautionary measure.
The railway services slowly resumed after that. By 2 p.m., 56 per cent services were resumed. The percentage was expected to rise to 70 per cent by the end of the day.
Railway authorities said that nearly 85 per cent services would be resumed on Thursday with an average delay of 20-25 minutes.
“Due to fire at Signalling Cabin at Kurla on the midnight of 17/18.4.2012, the automatic signalling in the area has been disconnected and the mail/express/suburban trains are run by issuing manual authority to motormen/train pilots at restricted speed. The services will be gradually increased/improved only after signals are restored,” a press release issued by the Central Railways stated.
By the end of the day, continuous restoration work led to the functioning of signals on the slow down local line from Kalyan to CST.
Four trains cancelled
Four express trains were cancelled due to the fire. They are — Pune-Mumbai (11026) and Mumbai-Pune (11025) Pragati Express; Pune-Mumbai (11010) and Mumbai-Pune (11009) Sinhagad Express; Manmad-LTT (12118) and LTT-Manmad (12117) Godavari Express; and Manmad-LTT (22102) and LTT-Manmad (22101) Rajya Rani Express.
Mumbai-Howrah Duranto express (12261) was rescheduled for departure from 5.15 p.m. to 7.10 p.m. Mumbai-Gondia Vidarbha Express (12105), Mumbai-Howrah Mail via Allahabad (12322) were also rescheduled.
