Last week, a local train had derailed at Badlapur, instantly bringing the traffic to a grinding halt. Last night, the 1063 Dn Dadar-Chennai Express derailed at Ambarnath completely throwing the traffic between Mumbai and Pune off gear for as many as 15 hours. Most long distance trains were cancelled.

The cancelled trains from Pune to Mumbai included the Sinhagad Express, Deccan Queen, Shatabdi Express and the Deccan Express. Trains from Mumbai to Pune which were cancelled included Mumbai-Pune passenger train, Indrayani Express, and the Shatabdi Express.

The train services were suspended after eight bogies of the Dadar-Chennai Express, including two air-conditioned jumped the tracks at Ambarnath at 9.30 pm on Friday, a railway spokesman said. At least 17 persons were injured in the mishap, police said, adding that several passengers suffered minor injuries following shattering of window panes.

The traffic was restored only by 12.30 pm on Saturday. However, the Pune railway station saw hundreds of commuters queuing up all day, to get refund for their tickets.

Though Central Railway officials maintained that all long distance trains were running only five hours behind schedule, (since 10 pm Friday) the Ahimsa Express from Ahmedabad reached Pune 12 hours late, at 5.30 pm instead of 5.50 am. Other long distance trains which ran more than five hours late included the Mahalaxmi Express, Hussain-Sagar Express, Siddeshwar Express, and the Mumbai-Coimbatore Express.

While taxi drivers at the Pune station said that their business was at least 30 per cent higher since Saturday morning, the MSRTC plied an additional 10 deluxe buses to Mumbai, at the peak morning hours and at 3.15 pm for passengers of the cancelled Mumbai bound trains.

Arrangements were made to take passengers of the derailed train from Ambarnath to Kalyan by a special local train after 11 pm on Friday, station manager P S Kulkarni told this paper. About 100 of these passengers from Kalyan arrived in Pune at 7 am the next day by the 6009 Dn Mumbai-Chennai Express and the rest arrived at 11.20 am by a relief train from Kalyan.