Suburban traffic on the Central Railway’s Harbour Line came to a complete halt as three empty tanker wagons of a goods train got detached and derailed at 12.31 pm. This incident occurred when the train was leaving Kurla and no injuries have been reported. As soon as the authorities were informed, engineers and maintenance staff swung into action. Following the incident, the Up and Down traffic on the Harbour Line between Wadala and Mankhurd was suspended, but passengers were permitted to travel via the Thane-Vashi trans-harbour line. Eight Down and six Up Harbour Line services were cancelled, but Central Railway operated eight special trains during this period. The track was cleared and traffic resumed at 1.20 pm. “Services could be restored because our senior railway officials of the Mumbai division rushed to the site to supervise the relief operation immediately,” said an officer from CR, adding, “We also ensured that we caused minimum hardship to the commuters and kept making continuous announcements for the benefit of passengers at all stations.” The CR has also initiated an inquiry to ascertain the cause of the derailment. However, experts who keep a tab on Railway issues want a permanent solution from CR authorities. Divisional Railway Users Consultative Committee (DRUCC) member Rajiv Singal said, “Such incidents happens because of poor maintenance of the rake and tracks. Railway is already falling short of money, so few other problems coupled with the lacklustre approach of the officials is the reason for such incidents.” A commuter said, “Though this incident did not claim any life, it caused much embarrassment and loss to the railway administration in terms of time and resources wasted.”
