Track relaying train derailment: Harbour line services restored after 13 hours

Local train services on the Central Railway's Harbour line were fully restored on Monday morning, nearly 13 hours after a track relaying train (TRT) derailed near Nerul station, officials said.

The TRT derailed near Nerul station at 4.20 pm on Sunday, leading to suspension of services on both the Up (towards Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus in south Mumbai) and Down (away from CSMT) lines between Vashi and Panvel.

Thousands of commuters were left stranded during the peak evening hours.

After the overnight work, the first local train from CSMT towards Panvel passed the restored section at 5.06 am on Monday, while the first local from Panvel to CSMT departed at 6.02 am, marking full resumption of the Harbour line services, the officials said.

"The restoration work on harbour line was completed, and services resumed between Vashi and Belapur from 6.09 am. Trains are now running normally on the CSMT-Panvel and Thane-Panvel routes," a Central Railway spokesperson said.

The derailment occurred on Sunday between Seawoods Darave and Nerul on the Up Harbour Line when the TRT machine was returning to Kurla after routine track maintenance during a scheduled mega block.

The Central Railway initially attributed the suspension to a "technical problem," but it was later confirmed that a track maintenance machine had derailed.

An accident relief train reached the site around 5.30 pm on Sunday, but the re-railing process was hampered due to heavy rainfall in Navi Mumbai, railway officials said.

Services on other stretches of the Harbour line, including CSMT-Vashi-CSMT, Thane-Nerul-Thane, and Belapur-Panvel-Belapur, remained operational during the disruption.

The Harbour line provides rail connectivity to western suburbs of Mumbai and Navi Mumbai from CSMT.

Nearly 10 lakh commuters travel daily on the corridor, which stretches from CSMT to Goregaon (in Mumbai) and Panvel (Navi Mumbai).