Commuter rage after suburban train services disrupted

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis reviewed the situation after the outbreak of train commuters' fury and appealed the people to maintain peace. "The Chief Minister has appealed for peace. Police is taking all steps to restore peace," Minister of State for Home Ranjit Patil told reporters here. "The CM is monitoring the situation every five minutes. He has spoken to Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu," he said.

Angry rail commuters staged a 'rail roko' at Diva station between Thane and Kalyan, after they



were stranded for hours following breakdown of pantographs of a Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST)-bound train at 6.30 AM near Thakurli station. The protesters also set on fire at least three vehicles, including a police jeep, a Thane civic official said. Three pantographs of a CST-bound train from Badlapur got damaged and the train came to a standstill with huge sparks.

Soon after, another Kalyan-CST train also experienced similar technical failure. Thus, the entire slow line towards CST crumbled in the morning peak hours. Even the fast train services got affected as trains were diverted.

Police cane-charged the protestors gathered on the tracks.