The last train ferrying coal to Bombay Port Trust (BPT) got stuck near Vadala, delaying peak-hour services towards Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) by half-an-hour, after which, another signal failure at Belapur delayed services by another 10 minutes.
At around 5 am, when the train carrying coal was approaching Raoli Junction before Vadala Road, its wheels got stuck in what looked like sheets of plastic used to build temporary huts that somehow found their way to the track. “This has happened often on harbour but the train is rarely stuck for as long as it was on Monday at the same spot. Finally, the BPT had to bring in their own engine and shove from the back for the train to be able to move forward,” said an official on condition of anonymity.
The train was cleared one-and-a-half hours later at 6.30 am delaying other trains too by nearly 30 minutes till 10am.
This was the last coal train being run from Central Railway (CR) towards BPT following environmentalists’ demands that supply of coal be stopped to prevent further pollution in the city. “When you move coal, the air tends to get a little polluted as the air is infused with coal particles so we had not renewed our contract with the BPT about its transportation,” said an official on condition anonymity.
To add to commuters’ woes, Harbour passengers travelling towards Panvel and Belapur saw another delay of 10 to 12 minutes when a signal failure occurred between 3.57pm and 4.22pm near Belapur towards Panvel, causing all trains to halt. “The trains were delayed by 10 minutes in the second incident on the Harbour line,” said PRO A.K. Singh. A third failure in the faraway suburb of Aatgaon further also affected services.
