BADLAPUR NEWS

Mumbai's train trouble: Scorching heat, crawling trains make life hell

Every day, IT professional N Raja takes an hour to travel by train from his Badlapur house to his workplace in Vikhroli.

But, on Wednesday, the same commute ate into five hours of his time.

While most of the 70 lakh Central Railway commuters preferred to stay home or take other modes of transport on learning of the disrupted signal system at Kurla on Wednesday, a few, like Raja, decided to hop on the train.

“First I had to wait for 40-45 minutes to catch a train at Badlapur station. Blank indicators added to the woes as no one knew what time a train would arrive. Even though announcements were being made, trains still came in late,” he said.

Train services were running smoothly only between Karjat and Thane stations, he added.

“The actual problem was between Thane station and Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST). As trains were crawling ahead, commuters were getting restless. We could see trains lined up between Mulund and Nahur stations. Many people jumped on the tracks and walked to the nearest station,” said a commuter, who did not want to be named.

He refused to blame the Central Railway for the chaos as the services disruption was due to a fire.

But, Dombivli resident Rakesh Shah was not so kind.

Shah, who took five hours to reach his office in Byculla, slammed the railway authorities for not making alternative arrangements.

“It was a minor fire. The problem could have been fixed by Wednesday morning. Lakhs of commuters were troubled because the authorities did not have an alternative plan in place to tackle emergency situations like this,” said Shah, pointing out that if the Central Railway had kept the emergency tracks between Thane and Kurla stations functional, commuters would not have suffered.

Shah said though the BEST did a commendable job by plying extra buses from Mulund, Kurla, Sion and Vashi stations, it was not enough to accommodate the huge number of railway commuters.

Autorickshaws and taxis also came to the rescue of students and office-goers who decided to not take the train on Wednesday.