Mumbai: Local Train Services on Central Railway Line Disrupted Due to Signal Error

Mumbai: Local train services on the Central Railway line were disrupted during the Wednesday evening rush hour after a goods train ignored a red signal and entered a loop line near Badlapur station, officials reported.

The incident caused the cancellation and short-termination of several local trains, leading to overcrowding both on trains and at railway stations.

The freight train, transporting iron coils from Dolvi in Maharashtra to Korukkpet in Tamil Nadu, triggered a Signal Passing at Danger (SPAD) event, affecting local train operations on both directions.

According to the Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) for Mumbai, all down local trains towards Badlapur, Karjat, and Khopoli were rerouted to Ambernath and then back as Special CSMT services.

Nine local trains were canceled, 12 were short-terminated, and one long-distance train was redirected via Diva and Karjat due to the disruption. The SPAD incident might have been caused by insufficient braking of the train engines, officials noted.

"Loco of JSWD (JSW siding at Dolvi) - KOKG (Korukkpet) goods train has failed at Badlapur home signal at 4.30 pm," said Swapnil Nila, Chief Public Relations Officer of Central Railway.

The Up line traffic towards CSMT was restored at 5.35 pm, while the Down line resumed at 6.50 pm. Central Railway operates over 1,800 services daily across its main, harbor, trans-harbor, and Belapur-Uran corridors, serving around 4 million commuters.