Mumbai: Central Railway is considering opening a staff-only special local to regular commuters on part of its route or cancelling the service altogether after railway employees allegedly kept its coach doors locked during Monday’s suburban train disruption following a fire at Kanjurmarg.A decision on the action to be taken is expected after a meeting of senior railway officials.The incident occurred on a special fast local from CSMT to Kalyan, which departs at 4.30pm daily and is reserved for railway employees. The train halts at Byculla, Parel, Matunga, Kurla, Ghatkopar, Thane and Dombivli.Amid the disruption on Monday, the coach doors were allegedly locked from inside after the train crossed Kurla. When the train reached Thane, commuters waiting on the platform tried to board but were unable to enter the coach as the doors remained shut. A video showing the incident went viral, drawing criticism as crowded platforms and a shortage of trains left commuters struggling to reach home.The incident triggered criticism on social media, with commuters questioning the operation of staff-only services during a major disruption and demanding that they be opened to the public.Sameer Mohite, posting on X, appealed to Central Railway, the Mumbai divisional railway manager and Railway Ministry to convert workmen special services into regular services. “Just look at all the railway staffs laughing and enjoying the sufferings on Taxpayer commuters,” he wrote.Another user, posting under the handle Gandharva, questioned the decision to operate the service during the crisis. “Why did @Central_Railway operate a workmen special in an ongoing crisis where commute by a regular local train was a struggle itself?” the post said.Himanshu Mukherjee also criticised the railway administration, alleging that commuters were struggling to travel while railway staff on the special local refused to let passengers board. He wrote that Mumbaikars were being crushed in crowded trains, hanging from train gates and waiting for hours at stations, while the workmen special continued to operate.Central Railway has taken note of the incident and is considering two options. One is to cancel the staff-only special local permanently. The other is to run it as a fast service exclusively for railway employees between CSMT and Matunga, and then operate it on the slow line from Matunga to Kalyan, allowing regular commuters to board it on the latter stretch.Senior officials will decide which course of action to adopt, railway authorities said.CR inquiry into Kanjurmarg relay room fire likely to conclude on WednesdayCentral Railway is expected to conclude its inquiry into the cause of the fire at the signalling relay room at Kanjurmarg on Wednesday.The fire, reported at 9.33am on Monday, left around 24 signals across all six lines between Vikhroli and Bhandup blank, severely disrupting suburban services for nearly nine hours. Railway officials suspect excessive heat or an electrical fault may have triggered the blaze, but the exact cause is yet to be established. The signalling system was restored in stages, with all affected lines operational by 7.35pm. However, services continued to run 30-40 minutes late until late in the evening.Although services were largely on time during Tuesday morning’s peak hours, some trains in the afternoon were delayed by 15-20 minutes, causing further inconvenience to commuters.
