Chaos hits Mumbai lifeline: Commuters go on rampage, central line suburban services stalled for six hrs

Suburban Thane witnessed massive commuter rage on Friday as irate rail passengers indulged in arson, pelted stones at police and staged a ‘rail roko’ after train services on the Central Railway route were disrupted due to technical failure, prompting police to lathi charge the protestors.

The suburban train services on the Harbour line also came to a halt after some motormen were injured in the violence and refused to operate trains due to security issues.

The motormen have called off the strike now but a Times Now report said that it would be hours before the huge backlog created by the blockade is cleared.

The trouble started at 7 am on Friday morning when three pantographs of a local train got entangled in the OHE - overhead power supply wire – of a CST-bound train from Badlapur and the train came to a standstill with huge sparks.

According to this report in Zee News , railway officials disconnected the power supply to the line and as a temporary measure diverted trains to the three other active lines between Kalyan and Thane.

However, the operation took around 15-20 minutes to complete in the rush morning hour. With one train plying every 3-4 minutes and each carrying 5,000 commuters, a delay of 15-20 minutes meant that trains were stranded all along the route with thousands stuck at stations.

Soon after, another Kalyan-CST train also experienced similar technical failure. Thus, the entire slow line towards CST crumbled in the morning peak hours. Even the fast train services were affected as trains were diverted.

Angry commuters poured on to the train tracks at the Diva suburban station. They were later joined by local people and the crowd blocked all railway lines passing through Diva.

An  NDTV report quoted  commuters as saying that they were fed up with the services on the Central Line. The Central line starts at Chattrapati Shivaji Terminus, and connects the city to suburbs like Kalyan.

Speaking to Mid-Day , Thane Municipal Corporation’s Disaster Control Officer Santosh Kadam said that a few protesters set three vehicles on fire, including a police jeep.

Police were rushed in to control the situation and they resorted to baton charges to evict the agitating commuters from the railway tracks.

One train motorman sustained minor injuries in the chaos that ensued even as the suburban trains network - the lifeline of Mumbai which carries over seven million commuters daily - was disrupted in the Mumbai-Thane-Raigad regions, the report added.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis reviewed the situation after the outbreak of train commuters’ fury and appealed the people to maintain peace.

After local train disruption I have sent MOS Home & UD Ranjeet Patil to immediately ensure that Law & Order situation is maintained.

— Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) January 2, 2015

Discussed the matter with Minister Suresh Prabhu. We will look into the reasons of disruption &work on corrective course for future.

— Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) January 2, 2015

The ticket window at Dombivili station on Central line was broken, and automatic ticket vending machines (ATVM) were thrown on tracks.

Suburban rail network is under severe stress. Long neglected.Drawing up plan to revamp it on top priority. Need time to implement.Huge task

— Suresh Prabhu (@sureshpprabhu) January 2, 2015

A Hindustan Times report said that around 10 am the situation took an ugly turn and extra police forces of the GRP and the Thane city police had to be called in. Minister Eknath Shinde also reached Diva to pacify the agitators who demanded trains from Diva station.