Mumbai suburban train services partially hit due to non-completion of rail works; commuters fume

Mumbai: The Central Railway suspended local train operations on the Trans-harbour line between Belapur and Panvel stations near Mumbai on Thursday morning, after failing to complete works in the scheduled time during night block, officials said.

Trains not to run between Belapur (Navi Mumbai) and Panvel (Raigad) till 11 am on Thursday (on the Trans-harbour line) to avoid bunching of trains, the Central Railway (CR) said.

Some commuters and office-goers claimed they were forced to take the Harbour Line trains between Belapur and Panvel stations, which are also running late by about 15 minutes.

CR's chief public relations officer Dr Shivraj Manaspure confirmed that suburban services on the Trans-harbour line were suspended between Belapur-Panvel due to a "block burst" (non-completion of scheduled work during block period).

"Trans-harbour locals will not run between Belapur and Panvel till 11 am today to avoid bunching at Panvel in view of some ongoing speed restrictions at Panvel due to yard remodelling work," he said.

"Thane-Panvel Trans-harbour locals are not running from Thane to Belapur till 11 am," the official said.

The Central Railway is operating a five-day-long midnight block starting from 3 am to 5.30 am, starting from the intervening night of October 2 and 3, for post-commissioning work at Panvel EMU stabling sidings that are used for parking empty trains after running services.

This is the second time in less than a week that commuters are facing inconvenience due to block bursts.

On Monday, the Central Railway failed to complete the scheduled works within the 38-hour-long block period and took about four hours more after that to resume suburban services.

The unavailability of Trans-harbour direct trains between Belapur and Panvel left several commuters fuming.

Many of them were forced to travel by the Harbour line trains, which they said were also running late by 15 to 20 minutes.

John Lee, a commuter, claimed a number of people lose their money after reaching late for work. "Who will bear the cost?" he asked.

Commuters have been inconvenienced due to the infrastructure works undertaken for Panvel yard remodelling to make way for two new tracks for the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor from last month.

The Central Railway ferries around 35 lakh commuters daily on its suburban network - from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) to Kasara (in Thane) and Khopoli (in Raigad district) on its main line, CSMT-Goregaon/ Panvel on the Harbour line, Thane-Vashi/Panvel on the Trans-harbour line, and Belapur/Seawoods-Kharkopar line.