Hanging wire on overhead cable disrupts suburban services between Mulund and Thane

The incident forced rail authorities to take an emergency power block to clear the obstruction and carry out repairs.

Suburban train services on Central Railway’s (CR) Down slow line between Mulund and Thane were disrupted during Monday morning peak hours after a wire was found dangling from the overhead equipment (OHE).

Commuter trains in Mumbai (Bloomberg/FILE)

The incident forced rail authorities to take an emergency power block to clear the obstruction and carry out repairs.

The disruption caused 20 to 30 minutes of delays, leading to train bunching and packed coaches for thousands of commuters travelling toward Thane, Kalyan, and beyond. This led to crowded platforms as commuters waited for delayed services. Passengers boarding trains faced added difficulty as coaches were already packed, especially during morning rush hours.

An official said a fire in the Relay Room at Kanjurmarg around 9.30am also caused the signals to go blank. Work is currently underway to address the resultant problems.

A Central Railway (CR) official said the wire was spotted hanging from the OHE near kilometre 31/146 between Mulund and Thane at around 9.23 am.

“An OHE block was granted at 10 am to allow the technical team to carry out the necessary work. The incident affected the Down Slow line on the Kurla-Kalyan section,” the official said.

The power block ended at 10:48 am, and the Down Local Line (Slow tracks) was cleared safely.

‘Due to an unknown article hanging on the OHE on the DN local line between Thane–Mulund, suburban train services are running behind schedule,’ the CR’s DRM Mumbai handle said on X.

The OHE block was in place to let staff attend to the fault safely. During this period, electric supply was disconnected, and trains were suspended at a few locations.