Badlapur protest: 12 trains diverted; local services to resume after track safety check

Mumbai, Aug 20 (PTI) The rail roko protest at Badlapur station near Mumbai on Tuesday over the alleged sexual abuse of two minor girls at a school led to the diversion of 12 long-distance trains and suspension of local train services on the Ambernath-Karjat section of Central Railway.

Central Railway said a light engine would be operated between Ambernath and Vangni stations to ensure track safety before allowing the resumption of local train services, which remained suspended for more than nine hours.

Authorities arranged buses on the Kalyan and Karjat route after the partial suspension of 30 local trains during the day left several commuters standing at various stations.

Local train services between Ambernath and Karjat stations were suspended after 10 am when hundreds of protesters, including several women, came onto railway tracks and blocked traffic.

"A light engine will run between Ambernath and Vangani in both Up and Down directions to check if tracks are safe for running trains before resuming traffic," said Swapnil Nila, chief public relations officer of Central Railway.

According to Nila, the safety exercise is necessary as the tracks at Badlapur station were occupied by the agitators for almost eight hours and some of them ran towards Ambernath and Badlapur after police evicted them at around 6.15 pm.

The 12 mail-express trains, including Solapur-CSMT Vande Bharat Express, were diverted via Diva-Panvel-Karjat stations till 5 pm, said Nila.

As many as 30 suburban trains between Ambernath and Karjat/ Khopoli have been cancelled so far, he said, adding that the number is likely to increase exponentially during the evening peak hour.

The Railways has approached the state and municipal transport bodies to run 100 extra buses for commuters between Kalyan and Karjat, and they have received 55 buses, Nila said.

According to railway sources, Kolhapur-bound Koyna Express from Mumbai was held up for four hours between Ambernath and Badlapur stations. Around 1 pm, the train was reversed and diverted via the Kalyan-Diva-Panvel-Karjat route.

The Railway Protection Force (RPF) deployed additional personnel at stations on the Kalyan-Karjat section of Central Railway, he said.

Badlapur is one of the major railway stations in Thane district on main line of Central Railway that operates more than 1,800 suburban services daily. Of those 894 trains operated on the main line. PTI