Commuters in Mumbai were forced to walk along railway tracks to reach their offices on Wednesday morning after local train services were disrupted due to a fallen bamboo structure. The incident occurred around 7:25 am between Sion and Matunga stations when the structure, erected near a building adjacent to the railway line, collapsed onto the overhead wire of the fast line. This resulted in a local train in the up direction being stranded for nearly 35 minutes, from 7:45 am to 8:20 am.
The Central Railway had to shut off the power supply to the overhead wire to remove the fallen bamboo, leading to the disruption of fast local train services on the Main line. While some trains were diverted to the slow line, this caused delays across the network. Services on the fast line were eventually restored at 8:20 am.
The incident highlights the vulnerability of Mumbai’s local train network, which serves as a lifeline for over 70 lakh commuters daily. The Central Railway, responsible for operating the network, ferries approximately 35 lakh suburban commuters every day through 1,810 services across four corridors: the Mainline, the Harbour line, the Trans-Harbour line, and the Belapur-Uran line.
The incident occurred amidst a warning of heavy rain in Mumbai and Thane issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Tuesday. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had also forecasted the possibility of heavy to very heavy rains in isolated parts of the city and suburbs, with occasional winds at a speed of 50 to 60 km per hour. This highlights the potential for disruption in Mumbai’s infrastructure due to weather conditions, emphasizing the need for robust measures to ensure smooth and reliable transportation services.
