Mumbai:
The backbone of Mumbai's trasit system, its intricate and elaborate local trains system, suffered a fracture today as several trains were disrupted and stranded for over five hours after a fire broke out near Kanjurmarg station at 10.00 am.
The fire caused the collapse of the signalling system between Thane and Vikhroli. Before that, an overhead wire technical glitch had also occurred between Mulund and Thane, worsening the situation.
Commuters on the Central Railway who set out to work on the first day of the week were seen stranded and queued up due to the lack of signal clearance for both slow and fast line trains in the up and down directions.
After waiting for hours with no trains moving, several passengers climbed down onto the railway tracks and began walking toward the next station, risking their lives.
The railway administration is carrying out repair work. Replacing cables could take around four hours, pushing the normal functioning of the Central Railway's traffic system until late night.
The fresh railway disruption in Mumbai comes just a day after the Central Railway had taken a "Mega Block" for maintenance, leaving angry passengers wondering how such a massive technical failure could occur the very next day.
On Monday evening, officials confirmed that three of four train lines were restored and urged passengers to not walk on the tracks.
(With inputs from Amjad Khan)