Mumbai, Oct 26: Three people were found dead on the railway tracks in Mumbai on Monday evening after a major disruption paralysed Central Railway for much of the day and forced hundreds of stranded passengers to walk along the lines, reports said.
Source: Daily Jagran
Two people were found on the Ghatkopar-Vikhroli stretch and were taken to Rajawadi Hospital, according to an NDTV report cited by Daily Jagran. A second report, by Dainik News Live, gave the same details. Neither report confirmed how the two died, and no official cause of death for them had been announced in the reports.
Source: Dainik News Live
At Bhandup, a 21-year-old passenger, Sahil Thite, was struck by a local train while attempting to cross the tracks between platforms and died, Mirror Now reported. Dainik News Live also reported that one person died in a train collision at Bhandup while crossing the tracks, according to officials.
Source: Mirror Now
This follows the Central Railway disruption reported earlier on Monday, when an overhead-wire problem and signal failures first slowed Mumbai local services. Read the earlier disruption report
The disruption began in the morning with a fire in a signalling hut at Kanjurmarg — reported at about 9.33 am by Mirror Now and at about 10 am in other reports — which blanked 24 signals across six lines between Vikhroli and Bhandup and forced manual operating procedures. A separate overhead-wire problem between Mulund and Thane, detected at 9.23 am, was restored by 10.48 am.
Central Railway cancelled 80 suburban services, with 20 more Harbour Line services cancelled because of a shortage of train crews, Mirror Now reported. Many commuters were trapped inside stationary trains for 70 to 90 minutes, and some got down and walked along the tracks while trains were still running intermittently on adjacent lines.
Central Railway chief public relations officer Swapnil Nila said a senior-level inquiry has been launched into the cause of the fire in the relay room, with a possible electrical snag or excessive heat among the lines being examined, Mirror Now reported. Signalling on the down local and up slow lines was restored by 6.18 pm, and by Monday night officials said three of the four affected lines had been restored and urged the public not to walk on the tracks, Daily Jagran reported.