Agitated commuters stop local train at Titwala station over delay

As per the Central Railway official, “The Kasara to CSMT local arrived at Titwala at 8.30am which was scheduled for 8.19am due to some technical reason. The public was agitated and was not allowing the train to move. After discussions with railway staff, the train departed at 8.51am from Titwala

Titwala: Angry over the suburban services running late in the Kasara-CSMT route, agitated commuters stopped a local train at Titwala station for more than 15 minutes during the morning rush hour on Wednesday, officials said.

Kalyan, India - November 16, 2022: Angry commuters halt Kasara-CSMT bound local train by standing on the tracks for at least 15 minutes in the morning at 8:30 am on Platform No. 1 at Titwala railway station in protest against delay in running local trains. Railway police officials pacify the commuters and manage to disperse them, at Kalyan, India, on Wednesday, November 16, 2022. (Photo by Pramod Tambe/HT Photo) (HT PHOTO)

The commuters held up the 8.19am local train by standing on the tracks. While the Railway Protection Force (RPF) officials rushed to the spot and managed to disperse the group of commuters.

As per the Central Railway (CR) official, “The Kasara to CSMT local arrived at Titwala at 8.30am which was scheduled for 8.19am due to some technical reason. The public was agitated and was not allowing the train to move. After discussions with railway staff, the train departed at 8.51am from Titwala.”

The commuters were complaining about the delay in this local train line for quite some time now which regularly led to overcrowding of the station as well as delay in reaching their workplace.

Archana Babar, senior RPF officer said, “A group of commuters, including women had thronged the track obstructing the local train at platform number 1. Followed by this, our team approached them and made them understand as it would lead to further delay. There was a 10-minute delay caused due to the incident. The protestors were dispersed after our intervention.”

“This particular train never reaches the station on time. We keep waiting at the platform and by the time the train arrives, it’s very much crowded. Also, there is no proper information on why the train is late. Every day is the same scenario,” said Mahesh Bhanushali, 32, who takes the 8.19am train from Titwala daily to connect to Thane for work.

Shivaji Sutar, chief public relations officer, Central Railway said, “We will find the reason for the delay. But agitation and stopping the train is not the way. It causes inconvenience to other passengers.”

Shyam Ubale, general secretary, of the Kalyan-Kasara-Karjat railway passenger association claimed that the association had informed about the delay to the railways. “The anger is because regular trains are not coming on time and they have to struggle to enter the train and AC trains are empty but they cannot afford the fare. The frequency of trains towards Kasara is already less, and any delay here leads to overcrowding. We had warned the railways earlier too that such delays might lead to agitation among commuters who have to face them regularly. They agreed that they will add one more EMU service to minimise this crowd but they took this all casually hence the sudden agitation.”

He added that there is a lot of anger among the commuters due to all these inconveniences. “We are urging the railway administration not to run extra mail express in peak hours and give priority first to local trains and try to run trains on scheduled time.”