Difficult to say the precise reason behind rail fractures: CR official

The back-to-back rail fractures over two days have now raised questions over the maintenance of rail tracks on the line. PIC FOR REPRESENTATION

A day after commuters suffered an hour's delay on the Central Railway (CR) post a rail fracture in Vashi, another one struck yesterday. The fracture occurred between Thakurli and Kalyan at around 7.55am, once again disrupting morning peak hour services. While CR's Mumbai division is already notorious for poor punctuality of locals, the back-to-back rail fractures over two days have now raised questions over the maintenance of rail tracks on the line.

Fast line affected
The crack occurred near Kalyan station. Officials said this incident affected the train services towards Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) on the fast line, which made travel miserable for thousands of people early in the day. "The rail fracture was spotted at 7.55 am and rectified by 8.20 am," said a CR official. Due to this, at least 18 services were cancelled on the main line, leading to 10-15 minute delays during the course of the day. The official added that it was a minor fracture compared to the one that occurred on Monday. That fracture occurred between Vashi and Mankhurd and led to cancellation of more than 30 services, as trains were stuck for more than an hour.

No precise reason
"We will have to see what went wrong behind the two rail fractures. It's difficult to say the precise reason behind them," said Narendra Patil, chief PRO, CR. Sources however have blamed the maintenance of tracks for this. They claim that timely inspection and checks need to be done, but the summer heat makes it difficult for the hangmen to walk for kilometres together and look for technical glitches.