Thousands stranded at South Gujarat railway stations

Surat: Thousands of passengers travelling towards Mumbai were stranded on railway stations in south Gujarat including Surat, Valsad and Navsari, as the traffic was affected following the derailment of the container wagons at Dahanu early Monday morning.
Around 10 long distance trains including Jodhpur-Bandra Suryanagri Express, Ajmer-Dadar Superfast, Karnavati Express, Bhavnagar, Bandra Express, Bhuj-Bandra-Kutch Express, Bhuj-Bandra Express, Bikaner-Bandra Ranakpur Express, Chandigar-Bandra Terminus, Porbander-Mumbai Central Saurashtra Express, Ahmedabad-Mumbai Express etc.were short terminated and reversed from Surat, Vapi, Navsari and Valsad railway stations, respectively.
Some seven trains including Ahmedabad-Pune Duronto, Indore-Pune Express, Lokshakti Express, Avantika Express, Golden Temple Mail, Aravali Express and Saurashtra Mail were regulated at Umbergaon, Sanjan, Vapi, Dungri, Vedchha, Navsari and Sachin railway stations.
Likewise, around 22 down trains including Bandra-Vapi Passenger, Saurashtra Express, Gujarat Express, Shatabdi, Firozpur Janta Express, Virar-Sanjan, Vira-Surat shuttle, Virar-Dahanu, Saurashtra Janta Express, Surat-Jamnagar intercity Express etc. were cancelled.
Shailesh Mani, a banker who was going to attend an important meeting at Mumbai said, "For more than a hour or so, I was in the dark whether the train is coming or not. There was no system in place to inform the passengers on the situation. At last, I enquired with the station master who said the train is cancelled due to some derailment."
The railway station authorities stopped issuing general tickets to the passengers travelling towards Mumbai as most of the trains were cancelled on Monday.
The Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation (GSRTC) pressed into service more than 25 buses to ferry the passengers from Surat to Borivali. Railway administration sought extra buses through the district administrations of Valsad, Navsari and Surat to ferry the stranded passengers towards Borivali and other destinations in Maharashtra. However, the railway authorities did not issue any order on whether the railway will bear the travel expense of the stranded passengers.
Around two refund counters were opened for the passengers at Surat railway station. A help desk was set-up to provide information to the harried passengers on the situation and making alternate arrangements for those travelling towards Mumbai.
Catering stalls were asked to open at all stations where trains are regulated for providing refreshments to stranded passengers. Sources said that more than 80 buses from Billimora, Navsari Vedchha, Surat, Bhilad, Vapi and Valsad stations were arranged for the passengers wanting to travel towards Ahmedabad and Mumbai.
"The GSRTC authorities were asked to press into service as many buses required to ferry the passengers from Navsari, Billimora and Vedchha railway stations. Around 19 buses were arranged and all the passengers were transported to Borivali," said district collector of Navsari, Ravikumar Arora.
A senior railway officer said, "Around 37 GSRTC buses were dispatched from Surat and Udhana stations to Borivali till evening. One up line has been started and the trains are moving on a very slow speed. The traffic is still affected and will take time to get restored completely."