Riders on suburban network bear the brunt

Riders on the Mumbai suburban trains bore the brunt of the shutdown of rail and road traffic in the city on Friday due to heavy downpour.

Office goers residing in the far-flung suburbs of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) found themselves stranded on the way, while the scene was not any different in the Central and Western suburbs.  “There was a 0000 sign on the indicator, which meant the trains, were not expected, but I had to wait at the station for some time before getting back home,” Shaibal Gupta, a space-seller who lives in Vasai, said.

“There were long queues for share autos and I got a ride after 30 minutes and had to spend the same time while returning,” Gupta said, adding that the increasing water table is a good sign.

A Q Kinariwala worked from home at Kandivali west as he could not reach office in Vikhroli. Agnel Sequeria, also from Vasai, was lucky to get a train, but he was stranded at Borivli. “I started at 6 am and could return only at 1.30 pm. I had very few options,” he said.

M P Joshi, resident of a far central suburb of Badlapur said: “My daughter reached the station to take the 6.25 am train to Thane for her college, but returned two hours later. I could not start from home since I wanted to go to the town on some work, which has to wait until the weekend.”

Kiran V Krishna, a Mira Road-based resident got back home after two hours of futile wait for the train. "There were no trains. The stations were crowded. It was utter chaos," she said.

Alumni of Kendriya Vidyalaya Katni who planned a reunion of sorts in south Mumbai had to shelve their plans as reaching the designated place proved impossible.

Those who had regular pick-ups of their staff busses like Mohsin Ajmanwalla were also stranded. “I waited for the pick-up bus, but it could not come,” Mohsin said. He managed to reach office late from Bhayander to Powai.

Businessman Rajiv Jain, resident of Lokhandwala in Andheri, did not anticipate the downpour and tried driving to Santacruz, which usually takes 30 minutes. “My car was stuck just metres from home. I have to get it services,” he said.

Real-estate businessman Bagur Desai could not open his office on Friday despite the fact that his office and home are in Vile Parle. “It is just ten minutes away, but most of my staff could not make it to work,” he said.

A resident of Thane, Suresh Bhaskaran said he was caught in a traffic mess. "From Thane, I started for Andheri in the morning. I was stuck in traffic jam just two kms from home. I had to return...I drove a distance of 4 km and spent two hours," he said.