Mumbai: The CSMT-Madgaon Vande Bharat express train experienced a technical snag at Diva station in Thane district of Maharashtra on Monday morning, forcing it to deviate from its regular route and delaying its onward journey to Goa by 90 minutes. According to officials, the train was scheduled to proceed towards Panvel station on the Diva-Panvel railway line, which is commonly used by trains bound for Konkan. However, due to the technical issue, the express train took a detour via the Kalyan route around 6.10 am. This unexpected change in route affected Mumbai’s local train services on the Central Railway, resulting in delays for commuters.

The technical snag and subsequent delay have raised concerns about the reliability of the Vande Bharat express train, which is considered a flagship service of Indian Railways. The Railway officials are investigating the cause of the technical snag and are working to prevent such incidents in the future.

The delayed Vande Bharat express train finally resumed its journey to Goa, but the 90-minute delay caused inconvenience to passengers who were looking forward to a timely arrival at their destination.

Central Railway chief PRO Swapnil Nila said the incident occurred due to the failure of the signalling and telecommunications system at point number 103, between the down fast line and the 5th line at Diva junction, from where trains heading towards Konkan proceed to Panvel station on the regular route.

After the train deviated from its charted course, it moved to Kalyan station and reversed to Diva junction, from where it resumed its onward journey to Madgaon on the Diva-Panavel route, officials said.

Nila said the train was detained at Diva junction for about 35 minutes from 6:10 AM to 6:45 AM before proceeding towards Kalyan.

“The train reached platform number six at Kalyan station around 7:04 AM via the 5th line. It was reversed to Diva station via the 6th line at 7:13 AM,” Nila said.

The premium CSMT-Madgaon Vande Bharat Express train, launched in June 2023, departs from CSMT (Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus) in Mumbai at 5:25 AM and reaches Madgaon in Goa at 1:10 PM on the same day.

Railway officials said such incidents occur rarely on the Mumbai suburban automatic signalling system.