Why Thane commuters were compelled to travel to the Kalwa car shed

Officials at Central Railway have been spurred into action, following a tweet by a commuter who complained about a unique occurrence – on Friday night, one of the doors of a Thane-destined air conditioned local did not open, as a result of which 30 commuters were forced to travel to the Kalwa car shed

Officials at Central Railway have been spurred into action, following a tweet by a commuter who complained about a unique occurrence – on Friday night, one of the doors of a Thane-destined air conditioned local did not open, as a result of which 30 commuters were forced to travel to the Kalwa car shed. It was almost an hour-long journey. Officials are presently scanning the CCTV footage to unravel what went wrong.

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The AC local that travelled from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) to Thane halted at the station’s platform number 2. However, according to commuters, the doors of the train did not open. “After a few minutes’ halt at the station, the train headed towards the Kalwa car shed. We pressed the green SOS button, whereupon the train came to a halt just before the car shed. We had to wait for some more time after which the doors opened and we finally walked out. In the meantime, we tried different helpline numbers, none of which was of much help,” said a commuter who did not wish to be named.

Shivaji Sutar, chief public relations officer, Central Railway, however said, “The train reached Thane station at 11.43 pm on Friday night. According to the train manager’s (guard) statement, the doors opened after pressing the button. However, since we have received a complaint from a commuter on social media, we are also checking CCTV footage for more clarity. We will take necessary action thereafter.”

Earlier, a tweet by Omkar Mankame read, “AC Thane local doors not opened in Thane, we are stuck in the train. The train is directly sent to the car shed. Need action and solution.”

A similar incident occurred on July 12, 2022, when the doors of the 6.23 am CSMT-bound Kalyan AC local did not open at Dadar railway station, forcing passengers who wanted to de-board, travel till Byculla railway station where they finally exited the train.

Siddhesh Desai, member of passenger association, Kalwa Parsik Rail Pravasi Sangh, said, “This incident happened when there were fewer passengers on board. It would have been a nightmare had this incident occurred during peak hours with 6000 commuters. Hence, we demand our regular locals be run in place of AC locals.”

The AC locals’ doors are controlled by the motorman or guard, at the press of a button. Similarly, if a commuter is in need of assistance a green button near the door can be pressed.