RailEnquiry

PUNE: The busy Pune-Mumbai rail route was affected on Tuesday after a goods train stopped between Akurdi and Dehu Road stations due to technical problem in the train engine. Movement of trains remained disrupted for more than two hours during peak morning hours.Three intercity trains, Sinhagad express, Deccan Queen and Pragati express, besides the Kolhapur-Mumbai Sahyadri express were delayed while two local trains each on the Pune-Talegaon and Talegaon-Pune routes had to be cancelled. Daily travelers to Mumbai were the worst affected. The traffic on the Mumbai-Pune track however, remained unaffected.The railway administration confirmed that the Sinhagad express was delayed by about 80 one hour and 20 minutes, Deccan Queen by 40 minutes, Sahyadri express by 30 minutes and Pragati express by 20 minutes.A railway administration official said, "A goods train travelling towards Mumbai suffered a major breakdown between Akurdi and Dehu Road stations around 6.20 am. Traffic on the Pune-Mumbai track came to a halt for at least one-and-a-half hour. Technical staff was deployed for restoration work immediately and the track was opened around 7.50 am."

The railway administration said it is still to ascertain the cause for failure. The officials pointed out that even though failure of the train had an impact on train movement on Pune-Mumbai track.

Vikas Kashyap, a commuter, who had planned to travel in Sinhagad express from Khadki station said, "To aviod such incidents, the railway administration should not operate goods trains during peak hours. There has been a long-pending demand to lay an additional track on the Pune-Mumbai route. However, no steps have been taken so far."