FOB Delayed, Trains Delayed!

Location: Diva
Date: July 5, 2011
Incident: Protest by Commuters
Demand: To get an FOB constructed on time
Result: Trains delayed, FOB might still not be ready in time!

Commuters who want an important Foot-Over-Bridge (FOB) to be functional by August 31, protested at Diva Junction yesterday leaving the trains delayed in the morning. In the absence of an FOB directly leading to the east side of Diva station, commuters are left with no choice but to cross tracks. Need we mention that this is directly proportional to accidents!

CR officials have reportedly said that due to rains the FOB work cannot be completed until September end!

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Badla at Badlapur station

The Pandharpur-Mumbai train was running late by four hours yesterday (June 13, 2011) and then it was made to halt near Badlapur station for more than an hour. Damn, we know how irritating it is when our trains halts mid-way for even a minute! Obviously, the passengers were irritated and they lost their temper when other trains passed by while their train was stationary.

Tumhaari train train, hamaari train fail???

Eventually, when a goods train started to pass, some furious passengers of the Pandharpur-Mumbai train got off and stopped it. Of course, they were 'successful' as the goods train had to be then diverted to another route and their train then started at around 9.15 am.

In the process what the passengers didn't realise was that their fury would result in a greater consequence... an unplanned badla: Tum hamaari train late karo, hum saari trains late karengey! Due to their protest and all the drama, local trains services on the central line were affected for the entire day. Reportedly, the suburban trains were running late by 10 minutes until evening!

So who is to blame?

The passengers? Well, imagine being stranded at a station for around 6 hours and being clueless.
The motorman? What could he do? We suppose he was just following orders or had to ensure that the local trains that carry thousands of passengers every minute don't get affected due to his train.
The rains? Seriously?

I think that proper announcements in the train would have helped. If the passengers had been continuously updated about the situation and informed why their train had to stop while others moved, perhaps they must have understood that the reason was genuine. They should not have been forced to keep guessing, right?

News source: Hindustan Times

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Chaos at Nalasopara railway station; Police opens fire

Today (September 1), the crowd really got violent at Nallasopara station due to the delay in local train services. So much so that the police had to open fire in the air to disperse the people! After all, commuters blocked railway tracks and disrupted services (the same commuters who were annoyed by the delay now added to the delay).

Earlier, an overhead power cable had snapped near Borivali station and then followed late arrival and departure of trains. Worst, this happened at peak hours. As a result, local trains between Borivli and Virar were running late by almost half-an-hour.

Gradually, commuters at Nalasopara station started losing patience, came on the tracks and started protesting against the railways. When cops arrived, they had to face the brunt as angry commuters started pelting stones on them. Eventually, police had to lathi-charge and open fire in the air.

I understand commuters getting furious, I would have lost my temper too in such a situation. But pelting stones??? That was totally uncalled for. Come on guys, aren’t we making things worse? Pelting stones would only result in hurting some of us and breaking window panes of the trains. And then we’ll complain about broken windows. When we expect the railways to improve (and it is trying too), we too must behave better, shouldn’t we? THINK.

By the way, Western line trains were delayed even yesterday (August 31) due to a technical snag at Bhayander station.

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