82 trains delayed, 40 cancelled on Central Railway after signal box damaged

The signal box at Panvel that was damaged by miscreants

Railway stations on the Central line, especially Thane, witnessed heavy crowding during the morning rush hour on Wednesday as the authorities had to resort to the age-old, reliable and yet time-consuming method of paper chit sanction for clearance of each train after some miscreants tampered with a signal box at Panvel and damaged the cables. The signal box was restored by 7.05 am. This affected the services heavily with over 100 trains impacted, including delay in 82 services and cancellation of 40.

"At Thane, the effect was felt more due to narrow platforms for the trans-harbour line and last-minute switching of departing trains from platform 10 to platform 9, which led to crowds gathering on the bridge too. The 9.39 am Panvel local came on platform 9 instead of 10 and the 9.47 am Nerul service also arrived on the same platform, leading to people running here and there. Overall, the delay led to a chaotic situation in the morning," said Ranjan Srivastava, a commuter.

Another commuter said trains were crawling on the line since early morning. "We would have walked up faster," said Harshad Gunacharya from Airoli. Shivaji Sutar, chief public relations officer, Central Railway, said. "The location box with signalling items near the track at Panvel and cables were damaged by miscreants. The incident occurred in the night. We have filed an FIR with the police. Signalling system near Panvel got disturbed and trains were running on paper authority since early morning. The location box restoration work was completed at 7.05 am."

Explaining the working of paper line ticket, a senior official said that as per Indian Railway regulations, in case of signal failure, trains need to be cleared by Paper Line Clears, which means every train driver needs to get a written authority from the station master and pointsman to proceed the train with passengers cautiously till the restoration of normal working.

Officials said that when cables are tampered or stolen, the signalling and telecommunication systems of the railway network don't work, and trains can't run. That's because the network is designed to fail-safe, which means when a cable is removed, trains come to a grinding halt. This is for safety and protection of the passengers and railway staff, but leads to delays till the location of the theft is found and fixed safely. There have been at least two incidents per month on Central Railway, Mumbai leading to loss of hours of passenger time and punctuality loss. Railways has now stepped-up intelligence and security to stop the menace, said officials.

7.05 am
Time when services were restored