Angry over the suburban services running late, commuters stopped a local train at Titwala station in neighbouring Thane district of Maharashtra for more than 20 minutes during the morning rush hour on Wednesday, officials said.
A group of 10-15 commuters including women jumped on the tracks at around 8.30 am and stopped the local train at Titwala, located 55 km from Mumbai. The train was heading from Kasara in Thane district to the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) in south Mumbai, they said.
The railway police later removed the protesters from the tracks, the officials said. The Kasara local was held up due to the commuters' agitation from 8.30 am to 8.51 am, a spokesperson of the Central Railway (CR) said, adding that the train was delayed due to a technical glitch in a goods train engine running ahead of it.
The Central Railway's chief public relations officer Shivaji Sutar said, We will find the reason for the delay. But agitation and stopping a train is not the way. It causes inconvenience to other passengers.
Personnel of the Government Railway Police and the RPF removed the protesting passengers from the tracks and extra security was deployed at the station, the official said.