Mumbai: Rare blackout shuts down city's lifeline for 2 hours

13 October,2020 07:22 AM IST |  Mumbai  |  Rajendra B Aklekar

some passengers spend hours on trains stranded midway, others get down and walk

RPF personnel help passengers get down the stranded trains on CR


Several local trains were stranded on the way to their respective stations when a rare grid failure hit the Mumbai Metropolitan Region on Monday. The city's lifeline came to a halt for many hours, forcing passengers to get down midway, on the tracks.

There was chaos outside Borivli station as WR officials denied entry to commuters, said passenger association member Himanshu Vartak. This was a common scene outside all major railway stations.

Ramesh Kumar, a commuter, said he was stranded in the train for nearly two hours and decided to stay put till the train started again. However, another commuter Ravindra Joshi said he jumped out and walked to Marine Lines station.

RPF officials said they dispatched teams to rescue women passengers stuck inside trains. Officials from both WR and CR said the power outage forced them to reschedule and short terminate a number of mail express trains.

In a statement, WR said "in view of interruption in Traction power at 10.05 am due to grid failure of Tata Power company, services between Churchgate and Borivli were suspended." However, supply from Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company was available at Vasai Road and had been extended to essential suburban trains between Borivli and Virar sections.

After restoration of public transport, WR's Mumbai Suburban section and all overhead wires were charged at 12.20 pm, WR CRPO Sumit Thakur said.

On CR, trains were running in Roha-Diva-JNPT sections, officials said. On the affected lines, electricity was restored at 12.26 pm. Harbour line trains resumed at 10.55 am, CR chief spokesperson Shivaji Sutar said.

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