One railway employee died and some others were hospitalised after commuters pelted stones and manhandled them, disrupting train services on the Central Railway in Thane district on Thursday. The agitators were demanding more trains for Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), Mumbai, railway sources said.
Rail services -- both long distance and suburban -- on the CR were disrupted for almost seven hours as more than 1,000 angry commuters pelted stones at Dombivali station, demanding fast surburban locals for CST.
Commuters disrupted train services at Titwala station also from 7.50 am to 9.50 am. They damaged the station and manhandled railway officials who sustained injuries and were hospitalised, a CR release said.
"One employee suffered cardiac arrest and died due to crowd behaviour and the stressful situation," railway sources said.
However, train services resumed after 5.25 pm as the railways called for additional police force to remove the agitating commuters from the railway route, Atul Pathak, senior divisional security commissioner said.
There has been a continued delay in restoration of normal services after the July 26 deluge and the commuters want fast specials starting from their destination during peak hours, railway police sources said.
Several long distance trains and suburban services were affected beyond Thane towards Kalyan as the agitators squatted on all the four tracks from 10.30 am and pelted stones at railway authorities, including motormen, besides cutting off telephone connections, the sources said.
Meanwhile, all long-distance trains coming towards Mumbai have been halted at various places, CR sources said adding, the suburban trains were, however, running.
Large portions of railway tracks were damaged after the unprecedented rains in Mumbai and Thane district on July 26 leading to disruption in normal services on the Kalyan-Kasara section of CR.
After 5.25 pm, the CR is running 80% of its services to Dombivali and beyond, CR spokesperson A K Singh said.
This will improve only with full restoration of services on the Kalyan-Kasara section where currently only one track is available for services, he said adding, till the second line is available, 10 services will be operated on the single track.
CR officials said the Dombivali commuters are already availing of services of 13 pairs of slow locals shuttling between Dombivali and CST, Mumbai.
Besides, they also have two local trains with 12 coaches at their disposal, the officials added.
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