Commuters take to Twitter to vent anger, ministers make assurances to soon fix issue of city’s ‘lifeline’

Signs of trouble emerged when Twitter handles like @smart_mumbaikar began to retweet confused commuters.

In a matter of minutes of the chaos that surrounded the breakdown of Mumbai’s “lifeline” on Friday morning, war cry of #railroko broke out on Twitter, where social media-savvy Mumbaikars vented, advised and poked fun at the Railways.

Signs of trouble emerged when Twitter handles like @smart_mumbaikar began to retweet confused commuters, who tweeted about train delays on Central Railway.

Rail minister Suresh Prabhu, who the faced ire of Twitterati, was quick to respond with tweets like Suresh Prabhu @sureshpprabhu “Very unfortunate for commuters to suffer on Central Rail. Directed GM to sort out the grievances ASAP. Diva to CST feasibility studied now.” “We will work with Maharashtra Govt to create separate SPV to address State issues. Discussed with CM. Both Govts will work on it.” read another tweet.

Devendra Fadnavis @Dev_Fadnavis wrote: “Discussed the matter with Minister Suresh Prabhu. We will look into the reasons of disruption & work on corrective course for future. After local train disruption I have sent MOS Home & UD Ranjeet Patil to immediately ensure that Law & Order situation is maintained”.

Those who took the microblogging platform expressed their disappointment to the CM. @SivramSD wrote: “#MumbaiLocal Train strike and Riot is very disappointing. Poor start to the new year. Time for action #Fadnavis & #SureshPrabhu and Fast”.

Soon, news twitter handles caught on and then came photos of large crowds on tracks, burning cars and an ATVM machine fallen on tracks. And then Twitterati did what it does best- it vented. The vents went against the troubles plaguing the central railway and poor services. Others gave suggestions to avoid these incidents and some others condemned the violence of stranded commuters.

@ABetaMale asked ministers his questions on Twitter: @KiritSomaiyaWhat r yr plans 4 suburan CR #Mumbailocal? What did u discuss/propose 2 @sureshpprabhu. What’s the outcome? #Mumbairailriot”

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While dramatic scenes unfolded on railway tracks, drama ran high on Twitter with one person suggesting that Railways should call the British back to fix rail services. Shashi (@shashishashi123) @sureshpprabhu sir involve britishers and not jpns to dvlp our rail. British knw india and they luv india. They cn slv all the rlwy prb.

#railroko was among top Mumbai trends on Friday morning.

mumbai.newsline@expressindia.com

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