Mumbai: For the third time in 24 hours, Western Railway services were thrown out of gear on Tuesday by a technical problem at 7 am between Borivli and Dahisar stations. But commuters, simmering after Monday’s twin disruptions at Bhayander during the morning and evening peak hours, were in no mood to take it quietly. Over a 100 irate commuters staged a rail roko, ransacked Nallasopara station and attacked a motorman, an agitation that exceeded the scope of the one at Borivli on February 4 this year. Services were affected till around 1.35 pm and several trains were two hours behind schedule. In all 22 services were cancelled.
   Railway officials told TOI that the incident occured on Tuesday when three pantographs on a slow train to Virar from Borivli got damaged after one of them got entangled with the overhead wire. Services between Borivli and Virar were affected and resumed at around 9.55 am, with a 15-minute frequency, from Virar. “We ran trains till they were available at Virar. The affected rake was cleared from the site with diesel engines and taken to the Kandivli car shed. Three tower wagons were used for repair and maintenance of the line,” said an official.
   But apparently people, especially at Nallasopara, had enough. As the crowd grew and patience thinned when the packed trains became difficult to board, at around 10.30 am, a mob at Nallasopara stopped trains to and from Virar. Services however continued between Vasai Road and Churchgate.
   By the time the police, GRP and the RPF arrived at 10.45 am, the mob entered one train and beat up its motorman A Mishra. The GRP fired six shells of tear gas and later at around 12 noon, fired one round in the air. The mob finally dispersed half an hour later, leaving four policemen injured, two damaged ATVMs, several broken tube lights and some shattered window panes, an estimated damage of Rs 5 lakh. Investigations are on and four people have been detained by the GRP, but no arrests were made till late Tuesday evening. Services till Virar were restored at 1.05 pm.
   The chaos spilled on to the streets and traffic on Western Express highway was slow-moving for long.
   K Rai, station master at Nallasopara said, “There was so much frustration, it wasn’t a surprise when something went awry. But its scale took us by surprise.’’ Dhyan Singh (54), a resident of Virar, added, “The situation was chaotic. People were trying to beat the motorman of the 11.15 Virar local.” Delilah Kulkarni, an HR executive, said, “The situation was very chaotic at Kandivali station. Commuters had no idea about what was going on. I boarded a fast train to Churchgate but it turned into a slow one.”
   In its fury, sections of the mob also ransacked kiosks at the station. Rajesh Awasthi, who runs a tea stall on the southern end of the platform, said, “My stall was pelted by the mob. I understand people’s anger but taking it out on us is unfair.” Agreed Shailendra Chaturvedi, whose book stall was upturned.