Train stuck in tunnel, commuters panic

The Karjat-Mumbai CST fast local came to a halt inside a tunnel for about an hour at Parsik near Thane station after the train developed a technical snag, reports Rajendra Aklekar.

The Karjat-Mumbai CST fast local came to a halt inside a tunnel for about an hour at Parsik near Thane station after the train developed a technical snag.

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Scared passengers were stuck in the sweltering heat and started feeling suffocated after some time even though the fans and emergency lights were working.

They couldn’t use their cellphones as there was no network.

It was pitch dark outside and so we couldn’t go out of the train, said passengers.

The 1.3-km tunnel on the Thane-Kalyan section is Asia’s first railway tunnel built in 1854 and has been used for fast suburban and outstation trains.

An engine had to be called to push the train to Thane station and was later cancelled.

“The train came to a halt around 2.35 pm and was pulled out at 3.55 pm,” said Kantilal Visariya (49), a commuter and a resident of Ambernath who was stuck in the train. “We all panicked.”

Fed up of sitting inside for more than an hour, Visariya tried to jump out of the train, but was injured.

“The railways did not make any arrangements to evacuate us,” he said.

Railway officials termed the incident as a “unit failure”.