Commuters suffer as trains on CR delayed by mega block

Akash Bijwe, 24, almost missed his convocation ceremony at the Mumbai University’s Fort campus because his train ride from Dombivli to Thane took him more than an hour, owing to the mega block on the Central Railway (CR) on Sunday.

Akash Bijwe, 24, almost missed his convocation ceremony at the Mumbai University’s Fort campus because his train ride from Dombivli to Thane took him more than an hour, owing to the mega block on the Central Railway (CR) on Sunday.

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Bijwe, who reached the venue an hour late said, “I had a horrible time travelling,” said Bijwe.

Several other commuters travelling by CR were also inconvenienced by a 14-hour special traffic block between Kalyan and Mulund from Sunday morning. Although authorities said that only slow-track services had been cancelled, commuters complained that there were barely any fast trains on both up and down lines.

The block between Kalyan and Mulund that began from 10am on Sunday will be effective till 2am on Monday.

“All slow trains between Mulund and Diva were diverted to the fast track. Work on platform extensions was pending and was carried out on Sunday. Services will be normalised by Monday morning,” said AK Singh, public relations officer, CR.

BEST authorities said that they had not been informed of the mega block and hence no special buses were run. “Additional buses are usually provided on such days. However, we were not informed about the block this time,” said a BEST official.

The block was also applicable on the harbour line. Down trains between CST and Kurla and up trains between Wadala Road and Bandra stations were also affected.

“It took me two hours to travel from Dombivli to Kurla, a journey that usually takes 50 minutes,” said Sneha Hambarde, 23, Dombivli resident, who missed her UGC-NET exam on Sunday owing to the delay in trains.