RailEnquiry

MUMBAI: Central Railway's service disruption on Wednesday evening ended in the worst nightmare a pregnant woman can have: getting trapped in public. Prerna Kumari (30; name changed) was in a local when it stopped between Sandhurst Road and Masjid Bunder."She wanted to go home to Thane. She was clearly unwell and was complaining of giddiness," said co-passenger Pallavi Prabhu (40), a marketing manager. Though she was in a hurry to reach her Colaba home after a long day's work and so was planning to get off the train and take a cab after crossing the tracks, Prabhu felt she could not leave behind the seven-month pregnant Kumari."I and another passenger held her and brought her down from the train. Then, holding her, we walked along the tracks to Masjid station," said Prabhu. "The bridge outside was overcrowded. After walking for a while, we managed to stop a small vehicle carrying goods. We pleaded with the driver to take us to the main road as we were unfamiliar with the area."They reached a police chowkie and sought help. "Thankfully, the cops rushed to our aid," said Prabhu. "They halted a bus and put Kumari on it. Breathing a sigh of relief, I started looking for a cab. I hope Kumari reached home safe ."

'Faulty pantograph design to blame'

CR officials have blamed the design of the pantograph used in Siemens rakes for Wednesday's incident. "The exact cause is not yet known. But judging from experience, it can be said that the single-arm design is responsible for the incident, an official said. "The diamond-shaped double-arm pantograph design of the older rakes is more suitable for tracks that have sharp curves—like the ones on CR. Near CST, trains have to negotiate a curve of 14 degrees and singlearm pantographs tend to get entangled with overhead wires here. Siemens rakes are also run on WR, but there are no curves on the tracks there."

Times View: Poor disaster management exposed once again

Wednesday's chaos should be an eye-opener for the authorities. CR should have informed passengers about the problem through the public address system, and disaster management agencies should have coordinated and acted swiftly to deploy additional buses. Also, cellular operators should have been roped in to convey information about the rail disruption through SMS. Such measures would have helped people to take efficient commuting decisions, thus preventing traffic jams.