Pipe Line Down on Mumbai Thane line 2 dead and several injured

MUMBAI: Around 500 trains were cancelled in the Thane-Ghatkopar section on Friday leaving lakhs stranded, confused and harrowed after a 40-metre  pre-stressed girder fell off a road overbridge that was under construction, and an adjoining water main fell on a passing Kalyan-bound local at 10.55 am. Two people including the motorman died in the accident. Eleven were injured, of whom one is in critical condition.

The mishap occurred about 30 kms from Mumbai at 1030 am when an under-construction bridge, adjacent to existing Road-Over-Bridge connecting Thane from east to west, fell on a local train below.

As the bridge collapsed, it also took along a parallel water pipeline which was supported by a steel enforcement. The support gave away due to the impact of bridge collapse and the pipeline also fell on the train.
The deceased were identified as R Ramachandra and Subhash Nikam, a motorman and a passenger respectively.

Central Railway (CR) officials said services between Ghatkopar and CST continued, but the frequency was very low and there was utter chaos at stations. Even though announcements were made at every station, they were muffled and indicators went on the blink. Updates were aired on TV and FM channels, and sent out through Central Railway's SMS Update service.

Commuters had a harrowing time trying to figure out train schedules in the absence of functioning indicators. Since people had no option but to take to the road, taxis and autos made a killing. Traffic was jammed in many parts of the city.

Some jumped onto the tracks in desperation. One commuter who took more than four hours to get to her destination said, "I left Thane at 5 pm and walked on the tracks to Mulund station, which was almost deserted. I then took an auto to Ghatkopar since I was told trains were playing from there to the city. But there were no trains there. I then took another auto to Kurla but it broke down at Chembur. So I got to Kurla on an Andheri-bound Harbour Line train. Switched over to the mainline, and the train the crawled to Masjid. It was stuck between Masjid and Sandhurst Road for more than 30 minutes. I finally got off at Masjid ,'' she said. CR officials said many trains were cancelled due to a shortage of guards and motormen, as many of them were stuck en route. Trains ran normally on the Harbour Line.

One commuter, accountant Geeta Mishra, was lucky enough to be let off early from work. "I live at Kalyan and will have to take a bus from Vashi. This will take over two and a half hours. I am really worried as I don't know what time I'll get home. The station is overcrowded and I had a tough time pushing my way through the unruly crowd of men,'' she said.