Mumbai: Signal failure affects local trains on Western Railway; services restored

The suburban services of the Western Railway in Mumbai were affected due to signal failure on Tuesday afternoon, delaying trains and inconveniencing commuters, an official said. Commuters claimed that the trains were delayed by 30 to 45 minutes from afternoon till evening. According to the Western Railway, the signal failure had occurred due to a cable defect near Malad station, which disrupted the suburban services.

The signal glitch occurred around 11.45 am and down slow line (Virar bound) was first restored, but it took nearly six hours to restore the system on all four lines (two for fast trains and two for slow lines), a spokesperson of the Western Railway said.

While the official said that the services on all lines were restored by 5.45 pm, commuters complained that the train timetable was severely affected and they were inconvenienced. An additional divisional railway manager of the Mumbai division had rushed to the spot to ensure speedy restoration, said Sumit Thakur, chief public relations officer of Western railway.

Swelling crowds and long wait at railway stations made travel unbearable, some commuters claimed. A Mira road resident said the fast train she had boarded took more than an hour to cover the distance between Mira Road to Andheri, when the travel time was generally about 30 minutes.

Similarly, a Virar resident said the train services had not normalised even during the evening rush hour around 5.30 pm. More than 30 lakh commuters travel by the Western Railway’s suburban network provides connectivity to suburbs as far as Vasai-Virar, Palghar, Boisar and Dahanu.