Signal failure and Kanjurmarg relay hut fire bring Central Railway suburban services to a halt in Mumbai

Signals failed at several places on Central Railway's (CR) main line in Mumbai on Monday, leaving thousands of office-goers, school students and college students stranded for hours. Local services resumed gradually in the evening, but the question remains how prepared Mumbai is if the same situation recurs tomorrow.

The disruption began at about 9.30 am. A fire broke out inside a signal relay hut near Kanjurmarg and burnt the CTC (Centralised Traffic Control) rack, which housed essential signal and telecommunication (S&T) equipment. As a result, signals went down on all six tracks between Bhandup and Vikhroli. A fault had been reported earlier between Thane and Mulund as well, so up and down, slow and fast lines all came to a standstill.

A member of the railway maintenance team, speaking on condition of anonymity, said passengers could face delays in the days ahead. According to the person, a temporary workaround was put in place on a war footing today to restart services, but fully replacing the damaged signal equipment will take at least 10 more days, as the equipment arrived only today.

When locals began running in the evening, there were heavy crowds and chaos at several stations, including CSMT, Dadar, Kurla and Thane. Everyone was in a hurry to catch a train home. At 8.30 pm, the Central line platforms at Dadar were packed with tired and distressed commuters, with a gap of 15 to 20 minutes between two trains. Social media was flooded with posts from people stuck in trains between stations. The sight of hundreds of passengers walking along the tracks to the nearest station drew the attention of the whole city.

A photographer boarded a fast train from Matunga to Asangaon and took more than half an hour just to cross Ghatkopar. A reporter who took a slow local from Kurla to Dombivli needed 90 minutes to reach Kanjurmarg, after which the train stopped completely.

After their local stood in the middle of the route for more than an hour, passengers lost patience. Commuters of all ages, from the elderly to teenagers, jumped onto the ballast and set off on foot along the tracks towards the nearest station. They included students of Kirti College, Don Bosco High School and KJ Somaiya College. They were walking near lines on which trains were still passing intermittently. At one point, onlookers held their breath when locals began approaching on both adjacent lines at the same time, and two college students had to crouch low on the track as fellow passengers shouted.

When the train crawled into Vikhroli, there was a rush for drinking water at a platform stall. Within minutes the vendor's entire shelf was empty. When the reporter reached the counter, the stallholder threw up his hands: "The water has run out."

Dr Swapnil Nila, Chief Public Relations Officer of Central Railway, said restoration work was carried out on a war footing. According to him, a fire broke out inside the signalling hut at Kanjurmarg at about 9.30 am, damaging the CTC rack and S&T equipment and bringing down signals on all six lines between Bhandup and Vikhroli. He said the technical teams worked swiftly.

Nila said the down through line was declared fit for use at 4.10 pm and the up through line at 4.45 pm, followed by the down local line at 5.30 pm. Up slow services towards CSMT are also being restored. A high-level committee has been formed to investigate the exact cause of the fire. He appealed to passengers not to get down on or walk along the tracks, as train movement is resuming.

The disruption had two causes. The first was a signal fault between Thane, Mulund and Bhandup stations, which, according to the CR control room, was linked to technical problems with the overhead line. It led to speed restrictions on the up and down lines and affected all services. The restriction continues while repair and maintenance work is under way. The second was the fire at the relay hut near Kanjurmarg station at about 9.30 am, in which key equipment was burnt. Temporary circuits have been restored, but replacing the hardware fully will take about 10 days.