Snag disrupts Harbour services

Harbour line commuters were inconvenienced on Sunday after an overhead wire snapped and got entangled in the pantograph of a Panvel train between Mankhurd and Vashi stations.

Harbour line commuters were inconvenienced on Sunday after an overhead wire snapped and got entangled in the pantograph of a Panvel train between Mankhurd and Vashi stations.

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Suburban services to Navi Mumbai came to a halt for several hours, which also resulted in cancellation of a scheduled four-hour mega-block between Mankhurd and Nerul stations.

In all 45 services were cancelled due to the snag, which developed around 5.15am. "Snapping of the overhead wire along with entanglement of the pantograph made restoration work more complicated and time consuming," said AK Singh, public relations officer, Central Railway (CR). "Services were restored around 11.30am."

Although, services were restored, trains were running at least 30 minutes late till late noon.

The CR said they ran special services between CST-Kurla and Vashi-Panvel. Also, passengers with valid ticket were allowed to travel via Thane-Vashi trans-harbour line. "Even the BEST undertaking was asked to make transport arrangement," said Singh.

"BEST arranged 37 additional buses to and from Navi Mumbai from Kurla and Mankhurd," said AS Tamboli, public relations officer, BEST.

Passengers association, however, have expressed concern about such frequent disruptions. "Despite mega-blocks on every Sunday, why do such failures takes place so frequently on the CR?" asked Subhash Gupta, member, National Railway Users Consultative Committee.