Mumbai: 14 Central Railway services cancelled, many delayed after slum-dwellers protest on tracks

Officials said the slum-dwellers continued the agitation for almost an hour, demanding that the demolition be stopped, until which they would not leave the tracks. Officials said the situation returned to normal only by the evening, after Railway Protection Force (RPF) officers removed the protesters from the tracks.

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“There were almost 1,000 people on the tracks. Many of them had to be forcibly removed as they refused to go away until the razing was stopped. No arrests were made,” said Sachin Bhalode, Divisional Security Commissioner, RPF, CR.

Services in the north-bound direction towards Kalyan were suspended. Commuters complained about delays and over-crowded trains after the cancellations. “It is high time the CR informs us of the problems and delay of trains. Also, this is not the way in which protest should be staged, by causing inconvenience to others,” said Kejal Shah, a CR commuter.

This is the third rail roko on the Central Railway this year. A week ago, slum dwellers around Dombivli station hit the tracks to oppose the razing of their illegal hutments. “Railways continue to become a soft target for people to vent out their frustration. Problems are not going to be lessened by approaching the tracks or disrupting services. Stringent action against this will be planned,” Ravinder Goyal, Divisional Railway Manager, CR, said.

Almost 11,000 illegal encroachments around the tracks on the CR remain to be removed, officials said. While 2,850 encroachments were removed in the last year, 264 hutments were removed in the month of December alone.

Under Section 174 of the RPF Act, a person caught staging a rail-roko can be punished with a fine of up to Rs2,000 and imprisonment up to two years. Officials confirmed that so far, no person had been imprisoned under the Act.

“We catch the people who cause the maximum chaos or obstruct traffic on the tracks. After they have been produced in the court, it is for the Magistrate to take due action against them,” Bhalode said.

In 2016, there were eight instances of passengers disrupting Central Railway locals — a sharp increase from 2014 and 2015, when only one such incident each was reported.

Dynamic trials of first AC  rake set to begin next week

The much-awaited dynamic trials of the first air-conditioned rake will commence from next week. Senior officials from the Central Railway (CR) said the trial would test the running capacity of the rake and check its performance on various track curvatures.

After receiving a positive report on its static trials, officials awaited nod from the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) on starting the next set of trials. The officials confirmed that the go-ahead was received Thursday.

“The first set of trials will commence next week beyond Karjat section on Central Railway. It will last for a minimum of three months. Each detail of its performance will be tested,” said a senior CR official.

The AC rake came to Mumbai in April 2016. Its performance in the trials will decide the fate of its introduction to the suburban system.