Train services halted by commuters protesting against frequently delayed services

Hundreds of thousands of people who are dependent on the Central and Harbour line suburban rail services in Mumbai, India, had a harrowing time on Friday after trains came to a grinding halt for close to 6 hours after commuters staged a protest over frequent delays.



The train services resumed several hours later as the huge backlog created by the blockade was cleared. Trouble started at 7am when a pantograph of a local train got entangled in the overhead power supply wire near Thakurli station, close to Kalyan, in Thane district. Railway officials cut the power supply to the line so as to rectify the flaw and as an interim measure diverted trains to the three other active lines between Kalyan and Thane.



However, the whole operation caused a delay of 15-20 minutes during the busy morning hours. With a frequency of one train every 3-4 minutes and each train carrying around 5,000 people, the delay meant that thousands of people were stuck at stations all along the route. Soon, commuters stranded at Diva station started protesting against the delay. They were later, reportedly, joined by local people and the mob went ahead and blocked all the railway lines passing through the station.



They also assaulted train drivers, after which their union threatened to go on strike. However, they dropped the plan after a meeting with railway and state government officials. Trouble soon spread to nearby Thane station where angry commuters threw stones. Later services were also hit on the Harbour Line. The police had resorted to a mild lathi-charge to get the situation in control after the protesters torched some vehicles parked near the station.