RailEnquiry

MUMBAI: A wrong announcement at Kalyan railway station led to commuters blocking trains at Vithalwadi and Ambernath stations and disrupting Central Railway services during peak hours on Thursday morning.

Commuters said that an announcer at the Kalyan station had said that a train coming towards platform number 5 was heading towards CST.

Many boarded the train, only to find out that it was going towards Ambernath. When the train halted at the next stop, Vithalwadi, commuters jumped out and blocked the train.

"On realizing that the train was running in the opposite direction, a few people pulled the chain but the driver didn't stop the train, said Ramchandra Ahire, one of the commuters travelling in the train.

"Around 400 to 500 commuters blocked the Ambernath-bound train and demanded that it be turned towards CST," said police sub-inspector S G Nirmal of the Kalyan government police.

He further said that as the train was delayed due to the rail roko at Vithalwadi station, commuters who were waiting for the same train at Ambernath station started protesting. "A Karjat-bound train, heading towards Mumbai, was blocked at Ambernath station."

At Vithalwadi station, police had to resort to mild lathicharge to control the mob after commuters started pelting stones at policemen. At Ambernath station, the Railway Protection Force had to call local Shiv Sena leader Sunil Choudhary and MLA Balaji Kinikar to control the situation. Police said that no one was seriously injured.

The Kalyan railway police arrested Surendra Nikam (31) and Sanjay Sawant (40) from Vithalwadi station and booked them under Sections 174,140 and 146 of the Indian Railway Act. They were produced in the Kalyan court and were granted bail after paying Rs 900 each.

Due to the incidents, trains ran 30 minutes late till afternoon.

In a press release, CR said that the services were affected due to a technical snag in the locomotive of 12127 Mumbai-Pune Intercity Express, adversely affecting suburban services towards Kalyan-Karjat direction.