After video shows cloth used to repair fractured track, Central Railway clarifies

Mumbai: After a video of railway employees "tying" a fractured piece of track with a cloth went viral on social media, the Central Railway hastened to clarify that the cloth was only used as a marker.

A rail fracture was reported between Mumbai's suburban Govandi and Mankhurd stations on the Harbour Line at 6:32 pm. The track was repaired within half an hour, but a video was soon circulated, which claimed that only a piece of cloth was used to tie up the fractured rail.

Railway officials soon spotted the video online and immediately clarified that the cloth was used only to mark the point of fracture, and not used to bridge the crack, as was claimed in the video. They also said that paint could not be used to mark the crack due to heavy rain in and around Mumbai.

"The fish plate was intact....since paint does not stick in the rain, the cloth was used for marking instead of paint....safety was not compromised at all," a statement by the Central Railway said.

Samir Jhaveri, an RTI and passenger rights activist, however, demanded an inquiry by the Commissioner of Railway Safety.

Services on all three lines of the suburban railway in Mumbai -- Western, Central and Harbour -- were severely hit by torrential rain on Tuesday.