Central Railway commuters take a hit as pantograph breaks down

Suburban train services on Central Railway was thrown out of gear after a pantograph broke in Thane on Friday morning. As a consequence, lakhs of passengers suffered due to delays of up to two hours. Railways' top board will now look into the frequent break-downs on Central Railway.

"Pantograph break-down of a CST-Thane slow local in Thane disrupted the suburban services on slow lines from 9.53am to 12.20pm on Friday. Slow services resumed from 12.30pm," said a Central Railway spokesperson.

The trains were being diverted between Vikhroli-Diva and Mulund-Diva as slow lines had got affected. However, the fast corridor was functioning, which had to accommodate the entire load on Central Railway's main line.

Repeated disruptions have led to railway minister Suresh Prabhu directing the Railway Board "to send a team of officers to examine the problem of frequent electrical overhead equipment (OHE) break-down and prepare a time-bound action plan to avoid recurrences of such incidents on the Mumbai suburban network."

Due to this incident, a total of 14 locals were cancelled and six others were partially cancelled.

During morning rush hours people were walking on the rail lines and heading towards the nearest road transportation alternative. There were delays in train operations even during evening rush hours.

"It has now become a norm for such technical disruptions but no permanent solution has come to the fore. As a result, we commuters reach late to our offices only to get penalised with half-day salary," said Priyanka V, a resident of Dombivli who was stuck during morning hours.