Badlapur protests: 42 suburban trains cancelled, 24 long-distance trains diverted

Mumbai: Train services on the Badlapur – Karjat/Khopoli section were non-operational for more than eight hours on Tuesday after hundreds of people blocked the railway tracks protesting against the alleged sexual assault on two four-year-old girls at a Badlapur school.
The rail-roko took shape after the crowd protesting outside the school spilt onto the rail tracks at Badlapur station around 10 am. As the day progressed, the crowd started swelling. Officials from Central Railway (CR) said at least 42 suburban train services between Badlapur and Karjat/Khopoli section were cancelled, while 24 long-distance trains were diverted via the Diva-Panvel route. These included the CSMT-Chennai Express, Konark Express, Hyderabad Superfast Express, Tiruchirapalli Humsafar Express, Koyna Express, and the Solapur-CSMT Vande Bharat Express, among others. The Koyna Express was stranded for four hours before it was reversed and diverted via the Kalyan-Diva-Panvel-Karjat route.
Local services between Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) and Ambernath ran normally, although no trains operated on the Badlapur-Karjat section. As the evening peak hours set in, senior CR officials said 42 services on the CSMT-Karjat/Khopoli route operated between 5 pm and 8 pm, with an average of 3,500 commuters travelling in each train service.
During the day, protestors occupied the rail tracks and shouted slogans, demanding the strictest of action against the accused in the sexual assault. After hours of discussions and continuing deadlock, the police resorted to a lathicharge at 5.50 pm and cleared the crowd by 6.15 pm.
There is no clarity on the degree of losses or damage borne by the railways due to the protests at Badlapur station, which included instances of stone-throwing. “We cancelled 40 suburban train services until 6.30 pm and 12 long-distance trains were diverted via the Diva-Panvel section,” said Dr Swapnil Nila, CR’s chief public relations officer.
As protestors had run on the rail lines during the crowd dispersal, CR authorities decided to inspect the condition of tracks and other assets by running a light engine. This was important from a safety point of view as the tracks were unused for over eight hours.
“A light engine was run between Ambernath and Vangani in both ‘Up’ and ‘Down’ directions to check if tracks are safe for running trains, before resuming traffic,” said Nila.
The engine, which was manned by railway police and staff who inspected the rail tracks, crossed Badlapur at 7.40 pm. The first train to halt at Badlapur on both Up and Down lines was at 8.05 pm, almost 10 hours after the rail-roko began.
The railways also earlier sought 100 extra buses from the state and municipal transport bodies to operate mainly from Kalyan and Ambernath stations.