A concrete girder collapsed on a moving local train between Mulund and Thane railway stations, killing two Mumbaiites including a railway motorman.

Hours later, what remained at the site told the story of how Mumbai’s lifeline came to a complete halt for as many as 30 hours, throwing local and long distance railway traffic out of gear and leaving thousands of commuters unable to get to work or back home to the far suburbs.

The girder was for a road over-bridge being constructed by the Thane Municipal Corporation; a portion of the bridge too collapsed. The bridge has been under construction since 2002.

According to eyewitnesses, around 10.45 am, the 132-tonne concrete girder first collapsed from its “intermediate” resting place on the bridge, falling just in front of the 9.48 am CST-Kalyan local train, brushing the motorman’s cabin. As the train was running at full speed, it dragged the girder some distance, wedged into the now mangled motorman’s cabin, grievously injuring the motorman R Ramchandran. As the girder was being dragged, it hit the steel pedestal supporting the bridge carrying the water mains, which then collapsed.

The 43-foot-long girder lay diagonally across the four sets of tracks just south of Thane station for hours, bringing Central Railway’s main line to a complete standstill. Apart from the suburban local train services, the Central Railway suspended or rescheduled nearly 30 long distance services.

“It happened all of a sudden. We were sitting in the compartment when all of a sudden there was a sudden jerk in the compartment. People had fallen on one another due to the impact of the jerk,” said Sahil Shinde (12) who was commuting with his 70-year-old grandfather Harishchandra in the vendors’ compartment. Shinde was trapped under the seat and had to be pulled out by a rescue team. Below Thane’s Kopri railway bridge spanning the tracks of Mumbai’s busiest railway line, railway employees worked until late in the day to remove the fallen portion of the concrete girder and two 19.6-inch wide water mains resting on the roof of the train and restore services.

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