Point failure on railway tracks near Malavli delays 5 Pune–Mumbai trains

The affected trains included Deccan Queen, Pragati Express, Indore Humsafar Express, Pune–Lonavla Local, and Mumbai CSMT Superfast Express

A technical fault in the railway track point changing mechanism near Malavli Station early Monday morning caused disruption in train movement between Pune and Mumbai, delaying five major trains. The disruption, which occurred between 7.40 am and 8.40 am, left hundreds of office-goer commuters stranded as they faced delays at the start of the workweek.

The disruption, which occurred between 7.40 am and 8.40 am, left hundreds of office-goer commuters stranded as they faced delays at the start of the workweek. (REPRESENTATIVE PHOTO)

The affected trains included Deccan Queen, Pragati Express, Indore Humsafar Express, Pune–Lonavla Local, and Mumbai CSMT Superfast Express.

Hemant Kumar Behera, spokesperson, Pune Railway Division, said, “There was a failure in track point switching mechanism that allows trains to change tracks. Hence, the trains running towards Mumbai from Pune were on hold till our technical team resolved the issue within an hour.”

Rohan Kajave, a software professional working in Lower Parel who travels regularly by the Deccan Queen said, “I had an important client call at 10 am, which I had to take from the train itself with a patchy signal.”

Another commuter, Priya D, who takes the Pragati Express daily to her office in Fort, said, “We understand that technical issues can occur, but what bothers us is the timing. It always seems to happen during the morning rush.”