How railways managed the day during the Maratha Kranti Morcha in Mumbai

With roads to South Mumbai partly blocked by supporters of the Maratha Kranti Morcha, the suburban local trains came to the rescue. Thousands of protesters, who participated in the morcha took the local trains, both on Central and Western Railways.

In the morning hours, trains towards Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) were running full with supporters. Holding saffron flags and wearing caps, people boarded general and first class compartments; with or without valid tickets. The protesters were more on the CR than the WR line, as they came from various parts of Maharashtra.

It was seen that they were trying to enter the first class women compartment as well, but were either stopped by railway police staff (RPF) or local commuters. "With many coming from various part of the state, it is possible that they might not know about the compartments reserved for women. We stationed kept ticket checkers at major stations," said a CR official.

There were more than 150 plus Tcs, who were placed across railway stations with many at CSMT, Byculla, Dadar, Kurla and Thane, where protesters boarded were in huge numbers. However, TCs did not catch ticket-less commuters merely due to the huge crowd.

Meanwhile, over 400 RPF positioned since last night (August 8) at various railway stations in Mumbai.

Their offs were cancelled and working hours were extended to 12 hours. CR authorities admitted that the morning hours were difficult as many protesters arrived at CST by rail. People also alighted at Byculla station to join the march starting from Rani Baug to Azad Maidan.

By 2pm, the CR planned to operate four extra rakes that ran 24 services. "We operated eight services on CSMT-Panvel Harbour line and 16 services on CSMT-Kalyan route," said Sunil Udasi, Chief PRO, Central Railway.

Officers from different departments, too, were posted at various stations, to monitor the trains.

By 4pm, there was sudden surge in the number of protesters arriving at CST station. They were dancing, waving flags and shouting slogans. It was around the same time that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had announced sops to Maratha community. By this time the protesters started returning and taking the local trains.

But then technical failure hit the local trains on CR at Kurla. There was point failure that hit train services between 5.10pm to 5.37pm. This affected the punctuality of local trains on the main line, which until then was running smoothly. As people threw food, pouches, and other garbage on rail tracks, platforms and station premises and littered the CST station, the CR deployed 23 extra sweepers to clean up.

As evening progressed people arrived to board the long distance trains back to various parts of the state. There were seven long distance trains starting from CSMT, one each from Dadar and Kurla LTT, on which one or two additional general sleeper coaches were added. Apart from this, authorities also decided to add two special unreserved trains starting from CSMT to Solapur and Kolhapur.

Meanwhile on road, taxis and BEST buses were diverted all till the evening. These did not ply between Dadar TT and CST. People who wanted to come to town, had to use the other way via Haji Ali, Peddar Road and till Churchgate.