In a one-of-a-kind operation, 10 commuters and a train captain were rescued by a fire brigade crane from the monorail, after it had come to a standstill between Bhakti Park and Mysore Colony stations
In a one-of-a-kind operation, 10 commuters and a train captain were rescued by a fire brigade crane from the monorail, after it had come to a standstill between Bhakti Park and Mysore Colony stations for more than two hours on Sunday.
Two monorail rakes RT 5 and 9 were affected by the delay. However, RT 9 managed to reach Bhakti Park station before the power tripped for the second time. This resulted in RT 5 being stranded from 8.20 to 10.45 am.
Rescue operations began after one fire brigade engine arrived on the spot. Soon authorities realised that a crane would be required to reach the passengers in the stuck monorail. Fire brigade officials brought down two to three commuters per trip taking around 7 trips in all to get the 11 of them as well as the captain to safety.
One of the 10 passengers Anil Trivedi (32) who was stuck in the RT 5 said the captain and another attendant kept them calm until the matter was resolved, he said, “The train halted at around 8.30 after which we left Bhakti Park and soon there were announcements saying that there had been a power failure and asking us not to panic. Immediately, the captain and another attendant came and kept talking to us giving us updates on what was happening.”
Trivedi said that he is a regular commuter and that just because of one incident he wouldn’t stop using the monorail.
“Such incidents happen. Maybe it could have been avoided but I am not going to stop using the monorail just because of it,” he added.
The incident became such a spectacle that it prompted the chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to send out a tweet saying, “Looking into Mumbai the monorail breakdown incident. Appointed Principal Secretary (Urban Development) to immediately initiate enquiry.”
Dilip Kawathkar, joint project director (PR), MMRDA said, “No passengers were injured and the we will be holding an inquiry into the reason behind which the power failure took place. The services were restored by 12 pm and will ply normally for the rest of the day.”
According to sources, the cable from sub-station from Mysore Colony was damaged due to which the current was unable to pass, an official on the condition of anonymity said, “Upon inspecting the stretch of cable between Bhakti Park and Mysore Colony it has come to light that the cable just out of the sub-station of Mysore Colony was severely damaged due to which power was getting interrupted.”
