MUMBAI: A devastating accident near Sandhurst Road station in south Mumbai claimed two lives and left three others injured when a group of pedestrians was struck by a local commuter train Thursday evening, according to railway authorities.
The collision occurred shortly after 7:00 p.m., mere hours after a brief disruption in Central Railway’s suburban services sparked by a sudden walkout from workers’ unions. The unions had halted operations to protest a police complaint filed against two engineers linked to a fatal rail mishap in June.
Emergency responders rushed the victims to a nearby hospital, where medical staff pronounced two dead on arrival. The remaining three received treatment; two were released against medical advice, while the third remained under care, a hospital spokesperson reported.
Investigators determined that the group had exited the train from an unsafe side and wandered onto the tracks, placing them directly in the path of the oncoming service. Details emerged as authorities pieced together the sequence of events during the peak evening rush.
This tragedy unfolded against the backdrop of lingering tensions from the Mumbra derailment on June 9, which killed four passengers. That incident involved two trains—a Kasara-bound service and one heading to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus—navigating a tight bend. Commuters clinging to the coaches’ footboards tumbled to the tracks when their bags snagged on passing cars, police recounted.
A subsequent inquiry by Thane railway police led to charges under Section 125(a)(b) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita—covering actions that jeopardize lives—against a senior section engineer and a section engineer from Central Railway.
The fresh outrage prompted unions to paralyze services at the bustling Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, a hub handling hundreds of thousands of daily passengers. From 5:50 p.m. to 6:45 p.m., protesters blocked motormen and managers, causing severe overcrowding on platforms and in carriages as the evening peak intensified, said Swapnil Nila, Chief Public Relations Officer for Central Railway, in a statement to PTI.
Operations normalized only after high-ranking officials pledged to escalate the unions’ grievances to state officials, averting further chaos on the vital network.
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