Signal failure plagued CR; morcha, rains caused delays, traffic jams.
Several disruptions made commuting in most parts of the city difficult for railway travellers and motorists on Tuesday. The failure of a signal panel at Kurla for half-an-hour during peak hours and a traffic disruption outside Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) in in South Mumbai by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar’s followers, left Mumbaikars hapless and stranded in transit for hours. Around 50 services were cancelled and around 100 were delayed due to disruptions on the Central Railway (CR).
During the morning peak hours on CR, the signalling panel at Kurla stopped working from 8.40 am to 9.15 am, hitting mainline and Harbour line services.
Commuters like Rebeka Waghmare (25), a nurse, who was travelling from Sanpada to Byculla, were severely affected. “I have to report to duty at 11 am this week and I usually catch the train between 9.30 am to 9.45 am to make the switch at Sandhurst Road. Today, when the train pulled into the station, it was extremely crowded. I did not want to be squeezed in the rush or worse, fall off a train. So I ended up leaving four trains until one came along in which I could at least stand and travel,” said Ms Waghmare.
The Kurla panel was completely revamped on June 13 with new wiring by the CR. “One of the wires that relays the signal was unable to do so. We do not know why this has happened, but we fixed the issue within 21 minutes,” said a railway official, on the condition of anonymity.
The second disruption occurred at around 11.58 am on CR between Ambernath and Badlapur, when the engine of a goods train failed. This issue was resolved only by 1.39 pm, as a result of which no trains were run between Badlapur and Karjat. “I left Badlapur at 11.30 am, but reached Dadar at 3 pm. I spent almost three-and-a-half hours in the train because of the disruption,” said Ashok Kamble, a marketing executive.
Even as Mumbaikars were reeling from delays on the railway lines, a morcha held outside CST station by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar’s followers and led by Dr Prakash Ambedkar, threw traffic in South Mumbai out of gear.
The eastern suburbs saw four main diversions created at Sion’s Ahuja Bridge, Five Gardens junction, Dadar TT and Bhoiwada, said traffic officials. Saat Rasta, leading to JJ Flyover, was closed and diversions were seen around CST. The traffic was re-routed to the western side of the island city — Worli Naka junction, Mahalaxmi junction and Haji Ali junctions were heavily choked.
As a precaution, P D’Mello road was cleared a day in advance using social sites where the traffic police made announcements. Alerts were relayed advising motorists about where they could park their vehicles and the routes to use. Other diversions were made from Kala Bunder to Avtar Singh Bedi Road, which leads directly to CST.
Commuters like Rahul Londhe, who works at Mantralaya, fell victim to the traffic problem. “I left Thane around 11.30 am and reached Vidhan Bhavan. But I was stuck in traffic at Dadar Bridge for almost three hours. It was a huge crowd of protesters who joined the rally against demolition of Ambedkar Bhavan. But they were protesting systematically and in a disciplined manner,” said Mr Londhe.
The western suburbs had received rainfall of 55 mm, as a result of which traffic moved slowly on SV Road in the peak morning and evening hours. In Matunga area, traffic was diverted to P D’Mello Road and Bharat Mata junction and further to NM Joshi Marg.
