The incident led to the cancellation of several suburban services
Commuters in Mumbai faced significant disruptions on Monday as local train services on the Western Railway network were severely impacted by technical issues because of cable cuts at Borivali station, a bustling hub in north Mumbai known for its heavy footfall of daily commuters and office-goers.
The incident, occurring around 2 am, led to the cancellation of several suburban services and widespread delays for passengers travelling on the route.
Western Railway officials worked tirelessly to resolve the problem, which took approximately 11 hours to rectify.
A senior Western Railway official told PTI that monsoon preparatory work was responsible for the technical issues, as the cable got cut when excavation work for a drain was underway at Borivali on Sunday night.
Chief PRO of Western Railways, Sumit Thakur, announced on social media that last night, local train services from platforms no. 1 and 2 at Borivali station were affected due to a cable cut. Local train services from other platforms were running smoothly.
"Due to the promptness of the technical team and other railway workers, platform no. 1 was restored at 12.05 pm and platform no. 2 at 1.30 pm. During this period, additional local trains were also run for the convenience of passengers," Thakur said.
To alleviate the strain on commuters, extra Metro services were plied to manage the influx of passengers resulting from the delays on the Western Railway network.
Despite the restoration of four track changing points and resumption of train operations from platform no. 1 at Borivali station by midday, some travellers reported ongoing delays of 15 to 20 minutes on the Western Railway suburban services.
Anxious passengers took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to express their grievances and post videos of the chaos at the railway station.
The Western Railway, which typically operates over 1,300 suburban services catering to a daily ridership of around 30 lakh passengers spanning from Churchgate to Dahanu, strived to mitigate the impact by running additional services.
In response to the increased demand caused by the disrupted local train services, the Maha Mumbai Metro Operation Corporation Limited deployed extra services along Metro Line 2A and Line 7, witnessing heightened overcrowding at Borivali, Kurar, and Rashtriya Udyan stations.
The Metropolitan Commissioner of Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority instructed the provision of extra services on Metro lines to ease the rush until normalcy is restored.
As the Western Railway network gradually returns to regular operations, authorities continue to monitor the situation and implement measures to ensure a smooth commuting experience for passengers in Mumbai.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)