Bandra local derails near Mahim; harbour line services hit for 4 hrs
A Bandra-bound suburban local train from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) derailed between King’s Circle and Mahim stations on Wednesday morning. No passengers were injured, but services on the Harbour line were disrupted for approximately four hours. The tracks in this spot are maintained by Western Railway (WR), while the local is maintained by Central Railway (CR). WR has ordered a head-of-department level probe into the mishap, to find out the cause of the derailment.
Around 11.30am on Wednesday, the third coach of a local train from CSMT derailed and dragged almost 150-200m after all four of its wheels fell off the tracks. The motorman stopped the train at the point where WR’s fifth line merges with Harbour line, just before Mahim station. A joint team comprising WR and CR officials has been formed to investigate the incident.
The WR spokesperson said measurements have been taken from the derailment site.
Eyewitnesses said they saw track-related work being carried out in the area. “Some work was going on the track at the spot of derailment since 9.30am. The track was jacked and some digging work was going on,” said Raju Gupta, 29, who lives near the tracks at Mahim.
However, the WR spokesperson denied this. “No track work was going on at the derailment site,” said Ravinder Bhakar, chief public relations officer, WR.
Another eyewitness said he saw several passengers jump off the train and on to the tracks. “First I heard a loud sound when the train derailed near a pole. Then there was the sound of dragging. The passengers panicked and some also jumped on tracks. Thankfully, the train’s speed was not much,” said Abdul Ahmed, who works in a shop that looks on to the tracks.
WR was able to re-rail the affected coach at 1.08 pm and sent it to Kandivli at 1.45 pm. The overhead wire was restored at 1.40 pm, but it took two more hours to restore the damaged tracks.
“We operated the first local from CSMT around 3.35 pm,” said a CR spokesperson.
Suburban train services to and from Wadala to Bandra, Andheri, and Goregaon remain suspended for more than four hours. CSMT-Panvel train services were operational, but passengers complained that the trains took longer than usual to reach CSMT.
“I travelled to Dadar via Sandhurst Road from Cotton Green and from there took fast train for Andheri, as Harbour line services beyond Wadala were suspended,” said Ganesh Waghmare, a resident of Kalachowki.
This is the second derailment near Mahim station in the past two years. On August 25, 2017, four coaches of an Andheri-bound local from CSMT derailed at Mahim and five passengers suffered minor injuries.