Thane station escalator malfunctions, 3 commuters injured

At least three commuters were injured after an escalator installed at the busy Thane station on the Central line malfunctioned on Friday evening.

The mishap took place at the escalator installed at platform 1, located at the Thane East end of the station.

According to preliminary information, the hand-rail of the forward moving escalator suddenly started going backward due to a technical malfunction.

The commuters, many of whom had placed their hands on the hand-rail, were caught unaware by the sudden jerk and the subsequent change in direction, causing them to fall.

Due to hand-rail slippage, passengers got sudden jerk and fell.

— Rajendra B. Aklekar (@rajtoday) May 11, 2018

At least five commuters fell due to the serious technical glitch, three of whom sustained injuries and had to be rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment.

The injured passengers, all of whom are out of danger, were identified as Kuldeep Varhe, Tejashri Mishra, and Sunil Thakur.

Railway authorities are currently making alternate travel arrangements for the trio to ensure they can reach home comfortably after getting discharged from the hospital.

An official statement from CR authorities about the cause of the glitch is awaited.

Although Thane station got its first escalator two years back, the escalators in question were thrown open to the public in January this year.

CR, incidentally, has set an ambitious target of installing 288 escalators across stations in the Mumbai division by March next year, a steep rise from the 34 installed as of today.

CR’s Divisional Regional Manager, S.K. Jain, has also stated that every station on the suburban section will have at least one pair of escalators by March 2019.

In the aftermath of the Elphinstone Road stampede, railways has made the installation of escalators mandatory for all stations with a footfall of over 25,000.