CR rail services hit after protestors stage blockade on tracks

Mainline and suburban train services on the Central Railway (CR) line were today hit for half hour in the noon as angry locals protesting an anti-encroachment drive came on to the tracks and staged a blockade disrupting traffic between Dombivli and Kopar railway stations in neighbouring Thane district.
The protestors were agitating against the local municipality, which conducted the drive along the stretch between the two stations, a senior railway official said.
They gathered on the tracks and stopped the movement of the trains for half an hour (from 12.15 pm) staging a 'rail roko'. The services could be resumed only at 12.45 pm when security personnel dispersed the mob, said the official added.

He said authorities are contemplating strict action against the protesters.
Registering your protest by halting train movement is certainly not acceptable and railway authorities are in touch with local municipal and police authorities, he said.
In the morning, when local civic authorities along with policemen reached the stretch adjoining the railway tracks, residents living in illegal shanties got angry and allegedly stopped trains.
Due to the protest all the six up and down lines were closed for half an hour delaying train services by 25-30 minutes.