Point Failures at Dadar Cause 45 Train Cancellations on Western Railway
Mumbai's Western Railway services suffered severe disruptions on Monday morning following technical point failures at Dadar, Vasai Road, and Goregaon, forcing the cancellation of around 45 local train trips during peak office hours. The disruption at Dadar began at 10:10 am on both the Up and Down fast lines, causing heavy bunching of local trains across the network.
The morning disruptions started at 4:46 am near Vasai Road, where a point on the fast corridor towards Diva developed a fault. Railway staff clamped the line and restored it by 6:00 am. Major trouble returned during the late-morning peak when points at Dadar failed to move from the reverse to the normal position.
Technical staff worked to resolve the issue at Dadar, rectifying the fault by 11:25 am. Almost simultaneously, another point failure was reported at Goregaon at 10:22 am, which was fixed by 10:32 am. Despite the relatively quick repairs to individual failures, the cascading impact lingered throughout the day, leaving Up slow local trains running approximately 30 minutes late into the afternoon.
The delays caused significant overcrowding at stations and left commuters stranded during peak hours. Commuter Pratik Juvekar reported being stuck near Dadar for nearly 30 minutes before stepping onto the tracks, only for the train to move again, forcing him to sprint back aboard and ultimately arrive nearly an hour late to work. Another commuter, Keval Magiya, questioned who was responsible for the repeated delays on the line.
A separate incident affected Central Railway services at Mulund around 11:53 am, when a piece of wire fell onto the overhead equipment during dismantling work on an old foot overbridge. The contact caused flashes and smoke, prompting officials to stop Kalyan-bound slow line trains for 24 minutes until the line was cleared at 12:17 pm. Three Central Railway local trains experienced delays of 20, 14, and eight minutes, respectively.
The foot overbridge work was being conducted through the Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC). Following concerns regarding safety protocols at the construction site, MRVC Chief Public Relations Officer Sunil Udasi stated that the authority will look into the matter and ascertain the facts.
