Commuters at Thane station were stranded after railway staff kept an empty coach locked during a 10-hour Central Railway disruption. A viral video shows passengers pleading to board the staff-only train, sparking outrage over railway mismanagement.
In a chaotic and frustrating incident at Thane railway station, commuters were left stranded on Platform 2 after the doors of a Kalyan-bound slow local train were allegedly kept locked from the inside by railway staff, triggering widespread outrage and commotion among waiting passengers on Monday. October 26.
In a video that went viral on social media, especially X (formerly Twitter), frustrated commuters were seen repeatedly requesting and pleading with the railway employees to open the coach doors so they could board the train. However, the desperate requests were unheard as the staff inside the coach allegedly ignored waiting passengers and refused to unlock the doors.
Thane railway station is one of the most crowded and crucial transit hubs on Central Railway's suburban network, making the sudden blockage a major source of disruption for daily commuters during peak travel hours.
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How Did the Commotion at Thane Station Unfold?
The Central Railway lines witnessed a major disruption of nearly 10 hours due to twin technical failures involving a signalling breakdown at Kanjurmarg, reportedly caused by a fire in a relay room, and a foreign wire hanging from overhead equipment between Mulund and Thane.
As thousands of exhausted passengers, who were returning home after a long workday, packed Platform 2 awaiting any available transport, a slow local train bound for Kalyan finally pulled up. However, to the sheer shock of commuters, the doors of a coach were kept locked from the inside by railway employees on board.
Despite reportedly two to three minutes of desperation to get into the local, the staff inside allegedly ignored the requests and refused to open the doors. An angry commuter allegedly threw water at the locked coach door in protest, as the frustration and anger reached a breaking point among the crowded commuters on the platform.
The coach, which was reserved for railway staff and employees, was reportedly kept locked from within to avoid general passenger crowding during the ongoing network chaos. The coach was almost empty, and the sight of an unoccupied compartment while thousands stood squeezed on the platform only fueled the crowd's anger.
As the trains were running late due to major disruptions on the Central Railway network, the commuters were looking to get onto any available local, making the presence of an empty, inaccessible coach on a crowded platform all the more frustrating.
‘Thousands Are Stranded’: Netizens Question Railway Staff-Only Train
The viral video of stranded commuters pleading with railway staff to open the locked coach sparked widespread outrage on social media, especially on X (formerly Twitter), as netizens questioned the need for a separate train for railway employees when thousands of passengers struggled to get home amid disruption.
Taking to their X handles, many demanded that railway employees travel on regular local trains and experience the overcrowding faced by daily commuters, while others criticised the decision to keep an almost-empty coach inaccessible during the disruption, calling it an example of entitlement and poor railway management.
A few demanded to scrap a special coach for the railway employees, arguing that staff should travel alongside regular commuters instead of having a separate facility, particularly during emergencies and major service disruptions.
Meanwhile, Central Railway has not issued an official statement regarding the incident or addressed the backlash over the staff-only coach being kept locked while regular commuters remained stranded on the platform.
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