A second train derailment on the suburban rail network in as many days left one person injured and disrupted services on Mumbai's lifeline, causing a great deal of inconvenience to thousands of commuters today.
Seven coaches of a local train came off the tracks between Andheri and Vile Parle stations on Western Railway late this morning. Another local train had derailed on Harbour line section of the Central Railway last evening.
The mishap led to disruption of traffic on the busy route linking Churchgate in South Mumbai to Virar in adjoining Palghar district, said Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO), WR, Sharat Chandrayan.
One passenger named Sudhir Swaminathan (30) suffered injures and was admitted in Cooper Hospital, WR said in a statement.
Chandrayan said the ill-fated train was coming from Borivili to Churchgate and derailed at around 11 AM between Andheri and Vile Parle.
A team of engineers and rescue officials was instantly rushed to the spot, the CPRO said, adding a detailed inquiry will be conducted to find the cause of the mishap.
Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) of Mumbai Division Shailendra Kumar, who himself supervised the restoration work, said, "By 7.30 PM, we succeeded in restoring the operation on Up fast line, on which the derailed train was running, and Down fast line over which one derailed coach had infringed."
"So far as Up through line is concerned, we have set a target to restore it by 6 on Wednesday morning," said the DRM adding over 100 officers and 500 workers were tasked to restore the line as the earliest.
To minimise hardships caused to the harried train commuters, WR coordinated with civic bus undertaking BEST, which ran 165 extra services till late evening.
BEST spokesperson Manoj Varade said, "We ran 165 extra services from Churchgate to Andheri and Santacruz, from Charni Road to Goregaon and Andheri, from Mumbai Central to Andheri and Goregaon, from Bandra to Malad and Kandivili, among other destinations."
A few long distance trains were terminated at Borivili, from where they were sent in down direction.
Narrating her ordeal Ankita Garg, a daily commuter, said "it was total chaos at Vile Parle, where I was waiting for a train. There were no trains from Andheri to Churchgate. There were three trains stationed on various tracks and commuters were alighting and walking on tracks. It was quite a chaotic situation."
Hundreds of commuters were also stranded at Dadar station.
