Chaos at Panvel rly station due to point failure

The point failure at Panvel railway station took place between 5.35 am and 7.25 am, due to which the suburban services terminating at and originating from Panvel were delayed by about 30 minutes. To make matters worse, Central Railway (CR) changed the platform numbers of arriving and departing trains allegedly without prior intimation, leading to chaotic scenes

Mumbai: Local train services on the CSMT-Panvel harbour and Thane-Vashi-Panvel trans-harbour suburban network were affected on Tuesday by a track-changing point failure that lasted for nearly two hours. A point failure is a fault with the movable pieces of track or their operating equipment that enable trains to change tracks.

CR authorities renumbered the Panvel station platforms—whereas the old platforms were 1, 2, 3 and 4, the new order was platforms 3, 2, and 1 while one platform was being dismantled. CR informed people about this change only after 5 pm on its social media account even as people suffered the consequences of the confusion right from morning. Manaspure, however, said that announcements about this were constantly on at Panvel station and indicators were displayed at Panvel accordingly (HT PHOTO)

The point failure at Panvel railway station took place between 5.35 am and 7.25 am, due to which the suburban services terminating at and originating from Panvel were delayed by about 30 minutes. To make matters worse, Central Railway (CR) changed the platform numbers of arriving and departing trains allegedly without prior intimation, leading to chaotic scenes.

“The Panvel-bound harbour and trans-harbour suburban trains were running 30 minutes late in the Belapur-Panvel section,” said Shivraj Manaspure, chief PRO, Central Railway. “There was a bunching of trains on account of the point failure at Panvel in the morning. But the Vashi- and Belapur-bound trains were running on time.”

CR authorities renumbered the Panvel station platforms—whereas the old platforms were 1, 2, 3 and 4, the new order was platforms 3, 2, and 1 while one platform was being dismantled. CR informed people about this change only after 5 pm on its social media account even as people suffered the consequences of the confusion right from morning. Manaspure, however, said that announcements about this were constantly on at Panvel station and indicators were displayed at Panvel accordingly.

Irate commuters questioned the inefficiency. “What was CR doing through the day when commuters were suffering? Why can’t the railways inform the public well in advance?” asked J Utekar, a resident of Panvel.

Through the weekend, train services around Panvel were also affected due to CR’s 38-hour-long mega block for infrastructure work—two new lines of the ambitious Western Dedicated Freight Corridor passing through Panvel station, which concluded after a delay of more than four hours. CR will be operating a traffic block at Panvel till October 6-7 from 12.30 am to 5.30 am, during which period suburban trains will be cancelled between Belapur and Panvel.

“Central Railway should plan all this well and at least inform passengers or their associations in advance. Announcements at the stations should be made at least 10 to 15 days in advance,” said Subhash Gupta, president, Rail Yatri Parishad.