The heavy downpour in the city coupled with pipeline laying work, resulted in soil slippage between Mulund and Thane stations early on Wednesday morning, disrupting services on Central Railway (CR).
According to CR officials, bunching of trains was reported immediately after the incident. As a precautionary measure, traffic on Down local line between Mulund and Thane stations was
halted between 11.15 am and 1.50 pm, CR officials said.
Passengers had to face inordinate delays due to the incident. A total of 40 services were cancelled, resulting in overcrowding inside trains. “It took me around three hours to reach Mulund from Kurla. People had no idea as to what was wrong, because even though the rains had stopped, the problem persisted. With no announcements, the confusion incr-eased,” said commuter Bhushan Shinde, a professor with a city college.
According to CR officials, the soil slippage could have occurred due to the ongoing pipeline work in Kopri.
Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC) was laying a pipeline under the tracks in Kopri — for the conversion work of direct to alternate current — when the incident took place, CR stated. “During the process of laying the pipeline, soil slippage took place. There was no negligence in maintenance of tracks,” the CR release stated.
However, the commut-ers’ woes continued during the evening hours as another soil slippage was reported near Vangani, affecting services again.