Kept in the dark, stranded commuters turn violent

KALYAN, May 7: The Central Railway's reluctance to keep passengers informed led to irate commuters going on a rampage in Kalyan, breaking si...

KALYAN, May 7: The Central Railway8217;s reluctance to keep passengers informed led to irate commuters going on a rampage in Kalyan, breaking signals and leading to a near stoppage of rail traffic around 7 pm today.

Around 2 pm, the engine of a Varanasi-bound holiday special train caught fire off Khadavli station. Fearing for the safety of the passengers as the flames leapt towards the compartments, the driver delinked the engines and drove them ahead to a safe distance. The lack of fire-fighting facilities meant arranging for the necessary equipment from distant Kalyan and it took until 6 pm for the fire to be quelled after which another engine was arranged.

Except for three passengers from the first compartment who tried to jump off the running train on noticing the flames, none were injured.

There were no announcements until 4.30 pm though local trains going towards Kasara were being terminated en route.

No sooner had the holiday special left the spot than an overhead wire came crashing down in thesame area at 6.15 pm. This effectively halted rail traffic between Kalyan and Kasara as the power lines were shut off to undertake repairs.

Again, there were on announcements till 7.30 pm.

Meanwhile, regulation of the locals along the route to Kalyan had created bottlenecks disturbing rail traffic between Kalyan and CST too. The tracks were soon swarming with people trudging in from as far as Dombivli and Diva. According to deputy station superintendent G H Rao, at 7 pm, the the commuters8217; patience wore thin when a local going towards Kalyan did not halt at the station.

This led to stone-throwing near a cabin just outside the station which broke three signals.

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quot;We8217;re thinking about it,quot; Rao said when asked why the commuters were not informed about the signal breakage.

quot;Twelve trains were cancelled in all,quot; said Rao. quot;It is difficult to say how many locals were regulated,quot; he said.

He also had no information on rescheduling of long-distance trains.

8220;This is the Central information centre8217;sjob,8221; he said in exasperation, hounded by the passengers8217; queries.

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The angry mob then let loose a volley of abuses, demanding to know how everything went like clockwork when Minister of State for Railways Ram Naik came visiting last week.

To add to the problem, three locals coming from the Karjat side were terminated at Kalyan and sent to the Kalwa car shed in succession. Security was tightened around the station premises as the the commuters8217; mood turned hostile.

In the absence of information about the fate of long-distance trains, passengers were seen waiting bag and baggage for some kind of announcement on trains.

Dhiresh Sharma, who was going to Nagpur, said,8220;It8217;s already past out train8217;s scheduled time and the kids are getting sleepy.8221; He hoped there would be an announcement soon, telling him the status of his train so that he could get his family back to Dombivli.