Suburban train services on the Central Railway were affected on Thursday morning after the insulator of the overhead equipment (OHE) wire broke thereby damaging the overhead fitments on up slow line between Thane and Mulund.
The problem occurred at 5 am and was resolved only after 1.30 pm. Almost 20 suburban services had to be cancelled.
To address commuter woes, the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking had operated 18 additional buses between Mulund and Sion for quick dispersal of people.
Many people also rushed to travel on the King Long bus run by the BEST between Thane and Backbay depot.
“The incident happened during the peak hours on the up slow line which comes towards CST and hence large number of people were affected,” said Sriniwas Mudgerikar, chief PRO of CR.
“Trains were delayed by over 40 minutes as the up slow trains were diverted on the up fast track between Thane and Vikhroli. There was heavy bunching on the up fast line and trains were getting detained near Thane,” he said.
Talking about the delay in restoring the problem he said, “The restoration took time as the stranded EMU trains had to be first cleared by diesel engine for clearing the passage of tower wagon and wiring train.”
This was the second instance of OHE snapping in three days as the first happened at Santa Cruz on Western Railway disrupting train schedule on WR.
