Central Railway commuters inconvenienced on Tuesday morning

Commuters on the Central Railway on Tuesday faced a lot of trouble during the morning peak hours after one of its most-powerful locomotives, WAG 9, suffered a technical failure. Harbour line, too, was impacted, marring the punctuality of trains. Ironically, CR officials were busy discussing steps to improve punctuality, sitting at CSMT headquarters.

The first incident happened at around 7 am, when the engine was heading towards Kalyan from Vasind. Sources said that the engine going to be attached to the wagons of a goods train later. However, it suffered a failure between Titwala and Ambivali stations.

"It was stranded for almost 90 minutes or so. This led to problems on the suburban section between Kalyan-Kasara section," said a Central Railway official. The commuters heading for Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) were stranded as the lines were blocked. The trains were terminated at Kalyan, Dombivali and Thane stations. "The stranded engine was pushed using a local EMU train. We also accommodated local train commuters inside long-distance trains till Kalyan," said Sunil Udasi, Chief PRO, Central Railway.