Cloth stuck in OHE at Sewri halts Harbour line locals for about 28 minutes

Local train services on the Harbour line of Central Railway were disrupted during the Saturday morning rush after a piece of cloth got entangled in the overhead equipment (OHE) at Sewri station, railway officials said.

According to Swapnil Nila, Chief Public Relations Officer of Central Railway, the incident took place at around 9.45 am on platform number two of Sewri railway station. Local trains heading towards CSMT were stopped as a result.

Nila said railway staff had to work to remove the hanging cloth. For this, power supply to the overhead equipment had to be switched off and trains were halted from Wadala. Until the obstruction was cleared, Harbour line services towards Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) remained suspended for some time.

Services resumed at 10.13 am, about 28 minutes after the incident was reported.

Commuters said Harbour line trains ran 15 to 20 minutes late during the morning peak hour. The Harbour line connects South Mumbai with the eastern and western suburbs and Navi Mumbai, and a large number of people travel on it every day.

In a separate incident, a signal failed on Monday at Kanjurmarg station in Central Railway's Mumbai division. Suburban train movement was affected at Kanjurmarg and in the section between Vikhroli and Bhandup.

According to Central Railway, the fault occurred at around 9.30 am and the signals at Kanjurmarg and the affected section went blank. The railway immediately put alternative arrangements in place for the safe movement of trains.

In the Kanjurmarg and Vikhroli-Bhandup section, trains were run on A-board authority. Absolute block working was introduced on the DOWN local and DOWN through lines between Vikhroli and Bhandup, and on the UP local and UP through lines between Bhandup and Vikhroli. As per the prescribed safety procedure, trains were also run on TD 912 authority.

Central Railway said that under these arrangements, train number K39 was run first from Vikhroli on the down slow line, and train number BL11 on the DOWN fast line.

Railway officials began repair work immediately after the fault, and signalling on the affected lines was restored in stages. The DOWN fast line was reopened at 4.10 pm, followed by the UP fast line at 4.46 pm. The DOWN slow line resumed at 5.30 pm and the up slow line at 6.18 pm. With the up slow line reopening, all four affected suburban lines were restored by Monday evening.