Mumbai Harbour line trains disrupted for 28 minutes after cloth gets entangled in OHE at Sewri

Local train services on Central Railwayrsquos Harbour line were disrupted during the morning rush hour on Saturday after a piece of cloth became entangled in the overhead equipment OHE at Sewri station officials saidThe incident occurred on platform number two of Sewri railway station at around 945 am bringing CSMTbound local train services to a halt Central Railway Chief Public Relations Officer Swapnil Nila saidPower supply switched off to remove clothNila said train services from Wadala had to be halted while the power supply to the overhead equipment was switched off to allow railway staff to remove the hanging clothServices were restored at 1013 am around 28 minutes after the incident was reportedThe disruption affected Harbour line trains heading towards Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus CSMT with services temporarily suspended while the obstruction was clearedCommuters report delays during peak hourAccording to commuters trains on the Harbour line were delayed by 15 to 20 minutes during the morning peak hourThe Harbour line connects south Mumbai with areas in the eastern and western suburbs and Navi Mumbai serving a large number of daily commutersSignal failure at Kanjurmarg Railway Station affects VikhroliBhandup sectionIn a separate incident a signal failure at Kanjurmarg station on the Central Railwayrsquos Mumbai Division disrupted suburban train operations on Monday affecting services at Kanjurmarg and on the section between Vikhroli and BhandupAccording to Central Railway the failure occurred at around 930 am causing signals at Kanjurmarg and on the affected section to go blank Railway authorities immediately introduced alternative operating arrangements to ensure the safe movement of trainsFollowing the disruption trains were operated under Aboard authority at Kanjurmarg and on the VikhroliBhandup section Absolute Block Working was introduced on the DOWN Local and DOWN Through lines between Vikhroli and Bhandup and on the UP Local and UP Through lines between Bhandup and VikhroliTrains were also operated under TD 912 authority in accordance with prescribed safety proceduresCentral Railway said the first trains to operate under these arrangements included Train No K39 on the Down Slow Line and Train No BL11 on the DOWN Fast Line from VikhroliRailway officials undertook repair work immediately after the failure with signalling restored in phases across the affected linesThe DOWN Fast Line was restored at 410 pm followed by the UP Fast Line at 446 pm The DOWN Slow Line was restored at 530 pm while the Up Slow Line became operational at 618 pmWith the restoration of the Up Slow Line all four affected suburban lines had been restored by Monday evening