Rail roko affects service on Central Railway line

Mumbai: A rail roko was staged at Vasind early in the morning as the services were delayed in the far-off suburbs due to the smog. The rail roko affected train services on the Central Railway (CR). The commuters stopped train services on the CR line at Vasind from 7.14 am to 8.25 am after the trains were delayed due to smog in the far-off suburbs. The locals have said that the delay in train services has become a regular feature.

A similar smog-like situation also had disrupted the Central Railway’s (CR) services on Thursday morning near Vithalwadi, but there was no agitation.

Commuters have complained that the CR has been giving preference to long-distance trains over the local trains. A commuter, Ashok Kamble (42) who travels to Asangaon from Kalwa said, “The issue has always been that the railways has always given preference to the long-distance train, this was done in the morning as well, so the rail roko was waiting to happen.”

CR chief public relations officer Sunil Udasi said, “The traffic was resumed from 8.22 am. There was a dense fog in suburban section beyond Kalyan. No express mail train was given precedence over suburban trains. For the convenience of commuters, we even gave halt to five mail/express trains in the section.”