CST station loses power, gets submerged in total darkness for an hour
CST Station on Tuesday night. Picture Courtesy: Rajesh Kumar, Mohammad Tariq and Diwakar Sharma
In a rare occurrence, Mumbai’s iconic Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) station was submerged in darkness for an hour on Tuesday night, leaving commuters confused.
CST lost its power around 9:30 pm after the feeder line of Tata Power, which supplies power to the station, reportedly tripped.
It took technicians around one hour to restore the power.
According to an official response by Central Railway, the power at the station was restored at 10:30 pm.
Lights at CST restored at 2230 hrs.
— Central Railway (@Central_Railway) January 17, 2017
Railway authorities, meanwhile, have ordered a probe to ascertain what caused the Tata power supply line to trip.
Fortunately, the emergency power supply line ensured that services on the route, along with the control room, remained functional. Narendra Patil, CPRO for CR, said that the emergency line could only power one-third of the station’s lights.
The lack of adequate lighting, however, did create a nuisance for commuters, many of whom were not sure if the services were even operational.
“I wasn’t sure what was happening when I approached the station. I thought the trains services might have also come to a halt. Luckily a passerby informed me that the trains were working, on the station had lost its power,” said Abhimanyu Nath, who reached the station around 10 pm.
This is the only time, in the recent past, that the station has lost its power for such a long period.
According to a railway official, no injuries or mishaps were reported due to the power outage as most commuters took the help of their mobile phone’s light to navigate around the station.
Recently, the ‘star chamber’ booking hall at the world heritage CST building also got new low wattage LED spot lights, intended to highlight the architectural design.
