Harbour line services were affected on Monday morning after a rail fracture that took place in Kurla delayed 50 services for up to 30 minutes, with 13 other services being cancelled.
Harbour line services were affected on Monday morning after a rail fracture that took place in Kurla delayed 50 services for up to 30 minutes, with 13 other services being cancelled.
The day started off on a bad note for the railway officials concerned when a weld — also called a ‘fish plate’ in railway terminology — broke at 7.57 am in Kurla, on the line towards Panvel. The problem was rectified by 8.11 am and did not lead to any severe service delays.
But it was the second incident that led to a complete halt in services between 9.38 am and 10.22 am, after the rail fracture took place between Vadala Road and Sewri, affecting passengers heading towards Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus.
An official said on the condition of anonymity: “At first, we managed the fish plate incident well and the issue was taken care of. But the fracture did us in and services in both directions were delayed.”
The delays hit office-goers the hardest. Tehmina Sabuwala (28), a market researcher travelling from Dockyard Road to Kurla, said she had not had prior warning about the delays, and would have to find an alternative way to travel to her office in Andheri. “I had missed the direct train to Andheri and was on my way to Kurla, hoping to switch to a western line train at Dadar. But I was stuck in the train between Dockyard and Chunnabhatti for almost half an hour,” Ms Sabuwala said.
The delays on Monday came a day after Central Railway completed a 10-hour block at Diva, which hit services throughout the day on Sunday.
