Rly disruption: Suresh Prabhu orders probe

MUMBAI: Facing flak for ignoring the plight of lakhs of suburban railway commuters, railway minister Suresh Prabhu ordered a time-bound probe into the railway disruption

MUMBAI: Facing flak for ignoring the plight of lakhs of suburban railway commuters, railway minister Suresh Prabhu ordered a time-bound probe into the railway disruption in Mumbai on Monday and Tuesday. He sent a team of railway board officers to review the preparations for the monsoon on Wednesday.

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Even as 350 suburban services were cancelled and 600 delayed on two consecutive days, Prabhu, who is active on social media, kept tweeting about International Yoga day and other issues, angering commuters further. Prabhu, through a series of tweets, said he took the disruption “very seriously”. “We will explore not only reasons of disruption, but also focus on remedial measures and act swiftly,” Prabhu tweeted. “Review of monsoon preparedness is being done at the highest level. Ensuring safe commute for people is our priority,” read his one of the tweets.

Meanwhile, the team of railway board and Research, Designs & Standards Organisation officials visited Mumbra and inspected the 34-m retaining wall above Parsik tunnel entrance, which came down after the first few showers. As the wall became a threat to the fast corridor of the CR, trains had to be diverted. The Thane civic body had to impose a three-hour block to remove the dangerous portion.

The CR said during the block period, the civic body removed a 7-m portion of the wall, but the team from Delhi has advised that another 2.5-m part be removed in the next two-three days, said the CR release.

The team has asked TMC to work out the modalities to break the remaining 25-m wall and remove the debris, with the help of the CR.