An enormous crater spotted on the Kopri Flyover, between Thane and Mulund, was the reason for the cancellation of over 40 services from the Central Railways and also caused the delay of many slow trains from 11:15 am to 1:50 pm. Many trains were late by 40-50 minutes.

Sanjay Shukla, the motorman for the train that is destined to Thane was the first person to notice the crater on the track to platform no 2 in Thane. “I noticed a huge pit and thought it could be unsafe for trains to be plying on these tracks” he said.

The officials of Central Railways denied any negligence on their part by blaming the mistake on Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC). “The mistake could have been due to the installation of cables underneath the tracks for the conversion of DC-AC power supply. The soil seepage could have occured”.

“All accident threats were immediately averted by the halting of all traffic on the tracks immediately by the MRVC official, who was on duty at the site” said the MRVS spokesperson. Commuters voiced their resentment against the decision of starting such work in monsoon as it was bound to invite troubles due to heavy rains.