MUMBAI: Schools and colleges opened and lakhs of commuters clambered on to overcrowded trains to make a perilous journey to work as the rain subsided and India’s Maximum City slowly returned to normalcy on Wednesday.
However, the suburban railways’ woes were far from over on Wednesday. During the peak hours in the morning, the Central Railway followed the holiday timetable leading to huge crowd pile up at railway stations.
Though a stampede-like situation was averted, two women commuters fainted at Thane station due to the thick crowds. As fewer services were operated, commuters found it tough to board trains which were heavily crowded. The suburban railway services of the central railway were reinstated after 16 hours.
“We have cancelled the Sunday schedule for operating trains. Central Railway suburban services are now running with the normal weekday schedule,” Central Railway chief spokesperson Sunil
Udasi said.
A day after the heaviest rain since 2005 brought Mumbai to its knees, leading to a wall collapse in which 22 people were killed, the waters receded from several parts of the city.