Mumbai's Harbour Line track fracture hits services

Commuters of the Harbour line were severely inconvenienced on Wednesday morning as a fracture in the railway tracks between Chembur and Tilak Nagar stations on the up-line crippled the rush hour schedule.

The movement of trains was completely halted after the crack developed around 10am. Trains going towards Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) were halted for 20 minutes, ensuring a fairly long queue of local trains.

According to sources in the Central Railway, at least five trains were cancelled in the morning and many were rescheduled. “The fracture affected services throughout the day on the harbour line,” an official told DNA, requesting anonymity.

Chief spokesperson of the Central Railway, VA Malegaonkar insisted that the impact on the train schedule was not severe since the problem was rectified in about 20 minutes and the Panvel, Vashi and Belapur-bound trains were on schedule.

Manjiri Maindarkar, a commuter who was travelling towards Dadar from Panvel, said, “When we moved beyond Vashi, the train took many halts. I got down at Chembur station and took a taxi.”