Did birds bring down Central Line on Monday?

The incident began with a series of electrical sparks that began near Thakurli railway station

Central Railway (CR) stations in Mumbai were extremely crowded after a major disruption occurred on Monday afternoon, impacting operations during the evening rush hour and leading to the cancellation of over 20 services by press time. CR blamed the "bird fault" for a short circuit and snapping of overhead wires at Thakurli. Operations were majorly disrupted between 2.28 pm and 5.03 pm, and 20 services were cancelled.

We are trying to find the exact reason for the snapping of wires. Prima facie, it looks like some obstruction or multiple birds on the overhead equipment (OHE) caused a short circuit and snapping of wires," a CR spokesperson said.

Hordes of passengers wait to board a delayed train at Dadar railway station

Divisional Railway Manager Rajneesh Goyal confirmed that the disruption occurred due to a bird fault.

Electrical experts mid-day spoke with said it is possible that a bird was carrying a metal wire. "One end of the metal wire touching a part connected to neutral/earth while the other part touching the live 25kV AC OHE, but the poor bird must have got fried in the air itself. Another possibility is if they were birds, which two high-potential difference points were the specific parts of the birds touching the AC OHE?" he said.

Another railwayman recalled a similar incident. "I had encountered a similar incident on Howrah Burdwan mainline a few years ago. Thankfully the bird strike didn't snap the OHE but broke about two out of four pantographs of an EMU train," he recalled. It started with a series of electrical sparks near Thakurli station, leading to the suspension of services. "Crowds just kept on piling but there were no trains at all," said commuter Rajveer Kumar.

Commuter Hiren Antani said, "Please inform CR to have a complete lockdown of all their trains for a week at least and repair everything that is required, we are completely tired of this daily harassment!"

Restoration work is undertaken at Thakurli

"Complete havoc situation at #Dadar Station .. central lines are completely at chaos… this is what we get in a financial capital of India (sic)," commuter Nikshit Jain posted on X.

Following inspection and repairs, the Up local line was declared safe at 3.35 pm.

A series of electrical sparks were seen near Thakurli station; (right) A thoroughly congested Thane station on Monday night

The restoration of the broken OHE was carried out by a ‘breakdown gang' promptly and a block was operated between Diwa and Kalyan from 3.20 pm to 4.04 pm on both fast lines. Breakdown gangs of adequate strength are usually located at selected points to deal promptly with OHE failures, particularly during the hours of peak traffic.

20
No. of cancelled services

3.35pm
Time Up local line was declared safe