MUMBAI: Central Railway officials are blaming an “ineffective” crane for the delay in restoration of Harbour line services on Monday following a goods train derailment between GTB Nagar and Wadala stations.
Train services, suspended between CST and Kurla from 4.10 am after the three wagons and the brake van derailed, were restored over 16 hours later at around 8.17 pm.”We prefer 140-ton cranes to lift wagons. Each derailed wagon had a cargo of 90 tons, yet the crane could not move it. If the crane was up to mark as it was billed on the paper, the restoration of services would have happened in much lesser time,” said a senior CR official.
The goods train, carrying masoor dal, had left the Mumbai port tracks and was crossing the Harbour line on its way to Badli near New Delhi when the derailment happened. CR had rushed more than 500 people to the site of the mishap near Ravli Junction for restoration work.
Heavy-duty cranes are deployed at every 100 km on the railway network so that they can be rushed to a site for restoration work as soon as a mishap occurs. “The exact date of procurement of the crane is not known, but it is likely to have been inducted around 2004 or 2005. The cost of such crane is estimated to be around Rs 50-Rs 60 crore,” said a source. The procurement of cranes is done at the level of the railway board.
“The derailment happened at 4.10 am and the crane arrived thereafter. We were told at 8 am the wagons will have to be emptied as it will not be able to lift the load. The process was of emptying the first wagon was completed by 10.30 am and it was removed at 12.30 pm, almost 8 hours after the derailment,” said the official. The final wagon was removed at 3.50 pm after which the railway authorities had to carry out restoration work on the tracks and the overhead wires before services could resume.