Moderate shower disrupts trains for an hour

Over 150 trains were cancelled on both the Central and Western railway lines owing to various glitches in the overhead wire and the motors of the local trains. As a result, commuters on the Western, Central’s mainline and Harbour suffered delays stretching between 20 minutes to an hour.

The Western Railway (WR) cited failure of eight brand new Bombardier rakes at various locations (mainly Dadar, Matunga, Vile Parle and Borivali) on the line as the main reason.

The brand new Bombardier train has a system that automatically shuts itself down detecting a power fluctuation, bringing the train to a standstill.

“Due to the rains, we saw power fluctuation. The Bombardier has a design by which if the power trips more than three times the system shuts, isolates itself and shuts down,” said a WR official on condition of anonymity.

“As a result around eight of these brand new rakes came to a standstill across our lines,” the official further added.

The WR alone saw 100 of the 150 cancellations. The incidents were reported from 10 am till 12 pm causing the line to be virtually paralysed and over 200 services delayed.

Similarly, Central Railway (CR) saw a combination of failure of the motors of trains on the mainline and the Harbour. There was power-tripping as well, causing 50 cancellations and over 100 delays.

“The power tripping occurred on Harbour at around 8.17 am and then again at Kalyan at around 9.15 am,” said a CR official.

He further stated, “As a result of this power fluctuation, the motors of trains short-circuited — once at Kharghar and a couple of times between Kurla and Thane.”

Commuters on CR mainline suffered a delay of 45 minutes, while the Harbour passengers had to wait for an hour before the problem was resolved.