Six passengers injured; services between Wadala and Andheri disrupted

Six passengers — four women and two men — suffered minor injuries after four front coaches of a suburban local train from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus to Andheri derailed at Mahim on Friday morning affecting traffic on the Harbour Line.

The derailment which took place at 9.55 a.m. adds to the list of train derailments in the past week. The accident occurred when the train was near the Mahim Yard of the Western Railway. The train was moving at a speed of 15 kmph at the time of derailment.

The train belongs to the Central Railway but the incident took place in the Western Railway’s territory. Due to this derailment, the services between Wadala and Andheri were disrupted. “The work for re-railing is on and the services will be restored in the next three hours,” the Western Railway said in a series of official tweets.

A local train in Mahim, Mumbai derails | Photo Credit: The Hindu

Other routes affected

Services on other routes — Virar to Churchgate — adjacent to the affected line are running normally. “The work for the restoration is being carried out on a war footing and the track safety work has also been started,” Ravindra Bhakar, chief PRO, Western Railway, said.

In a series of tweets, Western Railway said five commuters were injured in to the derailment and sustained minor injuries. They were given first aid. Denying that a larger number of people were injured, the Western Railway spokesperson said sometimes people from nearby localities pretended to be injured in order to “claim compensation.” Officials said although the accident had taken place during peak hour, the number of injured were fewer because Friday was a public holiday.