Peak-hour services on the Western Railway (WR) were badly disrupted on Friday, because of some cable wires that had been tampered with between Dadar and Elphinstone Road on the fast corridor towards Virar.

The cable problem affected two signals between these stations causing four trains to be cancelled and a delay of 20-25 minutes to other trains.

“Someone tampered with the cable wire between Dadar and Elphinstone Road stations around 8.15pm. This affected two signals. Though the trains were late by an average of 10 minutes, no trains were cancelled,” said C David, public relation officer (PRO), western railway (WR).

However, WR sources said four trains had been cancelled and three signals were affected. “Initially, the problem occurred at 4.30, but was rectified at 5.20pm, but the damage had already been done. The trains were moving at a  speed of less than 20kmph leading to the bunching of trains, which caused the delay,” said WR staff, requesting anonymity as he is not allowed to speak to the media.

There were huge crowds at some of the stations.