Harbour line services disrupted after goods train derails near GTB station

Services between Kurla and CST on Harbour line came to a complete halt after three wagons of a goods train derailed early Monday morning, inconveniencing thousands of daily office commuters.

Harbour line services were affected due to goods train derailment between Wadala and GTB Nagar stations at 4:15 AM, said Central Railway PRO A K Singh.

1/2 Three wagons and brake van of a goods train derailed between Ravli and Kurla on down harbour line at 04.09 hrs today. contd…..2

— Central Railway (@Central_Railway) February 27, 2017

A Mandoli-bound goods train had crossed Wadala station when three rear wagons of the trains derailed, said Singh adding the efforts of re-railing were on at war-footing.

The remaining 37 wagons of the derailed train have been dispatched to the destination, he said.

Our team of engineers along with the senior officers are at the spot and doing every bit to restore the services as soon as possible, Singh said.

Meanwhile, another senior officer said Main line and Trans Harbour trains were running on schedule and Harbour passengers have been permitted to travel on these routes on the same ticket.

Also, trains from Panvel (towards CST) are being terminated at Kurla. CR is running additional local trains between Vashi to Thane for enabling passengers to reach CST via Thane, as Kurla harbour line services have been affected, said the official.

To ease peak hour travel, BEST is also running additional services between Kurla-CST and Vashi-CST.

Despite the additional arrangements, office-goers and students faced a harrowing time with huge rush at Kurla station due to delay of local trains.

Many commuters complained of delays between 20 to 40 minutes. Social media too was littered with messages from commuters about the rush hour delays and overcrowded trains.

Meanwhile, harbour line services between Panvel-CST and Kurla-CST have partially resumed around 9:40 am.

As of writing this, south-bound trains running on CR and WR are running late by 5 to 10 minutes.

Update (2:50 pm): Contrary to CR’s earlier update, no trains are plying on Kurla-CST route at the moment.

Update (3:30 pm): Work on clearing the wagons is still underway and harbour line services are yet to return to normalcy. Commuters travelling in the evening should brace for delays and overcrowding.

Update (9 pm): Services on the harbour line have been restored. The first Up local crossed at 8:07 pm and the first Down local crossed at 8:45 pm. The services are expected to return to normalcy in the next few hours.

First harbour local crossed the site at 2007 hrs on Up harbour line

— Central Railway (@Central_Railway) February 27, 2017

Dn harbour line restored and first train left GTB Nagar (site) at 2045 hrs

— Central Railway (@Central_Railway) February 27, 2017