Trains between Vadodara and Mumbai delayed due to engineering operation

Several trains running between Vadodara and Mumbai were delayed on Tuesday due to an engineering operation between Amalsad and Bilimora as well as Dungri near Valsad. While passengers remained stranded at stations and in trains that were held up in a serpentine queue, some of the trains ran over four hours behind schedule.

The procedure for strengthening the approach road to bridges between Amalsad and Bilimora as well as Dungri near Valsad caused over 50 running trains to be delayed. According to officials of the Western Railway, the engineering block was scheduled between 12.40 pm and 5.10 pm causing several superfast and express trains to be delayed and halted between Vadodara and Valsad. The railways also truncated passenger trains at Navsari.

As railway helplines were inundated with calls from stranded passengers, officials said the maintenance was “necessary”. The block also meant that Vande Bharat Express, connecting Gandhinagar and Mumbai, was delayed by 40 minutes on Tuesday while it was at Surat station.

On Wednesday, January 25, the railways has also planned a mega block of five hours from 12.10pm to 5.10 pm to undertake work to increase the speed of trains between Delhi and Mumbai to 160kmph. A department circular of the Western Railways said that the block is for “laying of transition system using geocell and blanketing material on the approaches of major bridges” and other works between Derol station in Panchmahal district to Kasara station in Maharashtra.