30 lakh stranded in Central Railway trains with no info

Mumbai: There were no announcements made to passengers who were stranded in Central Railway (CR) trains for more than 11 hours on Tuesday following the heavy deluge that gripped the city. The reason for it being that CR trains do not have a system wherein the motorman and motor-guard can communicate with the control room located at its divisional headquarter in CST. This fact came to light on Thursday after commuters complained that they received no information from the Passenger Information System (PIS), via the speakers present in each coach.

More than 30 lakh passengers were stranded in various trains that were marooned mid-journey when water levels gushed into the train’s engines. Passengers like Shreyas Ranade, a resident of Seawoods, who was stuck in the train at Thane said, “I was trying to travel from Kalyan to Kurla, but was stuck in the train for almost six hours.  There were no announcements and I was just sitting there with no information from the railways. The only information I received was from family members and friends.”

Speaking about CR’s partially operational Train Management System (TMS), CR divisional railway manager Ravindra Goyal said, “We are still working on the system where the guard and the motorman would get information from  the control room directly.” He further added, “The motorman calls up the control from their mobile in situations where it is needed. We will get the system soon after we sort out some technical issues.” Railway activist and ex-Divisional Railway Users Consultative Committee (DRUCC) said, “This is a very operational issue on the CR. It is one of the most basic technologies that railways must have.”