Mumbai (PTI): Thousands of commuters were severely inconvenienced when a track relaying train (TRT) derailed near Nerul station on Central Railway's Harbour line at 4:20pm on Sunday, leading to suspension of services on both Up (towards CSMT) and Down (away from CSMT) lines between Vashi and Panvel.

Officials said an accident relief train reached the site, between Seawoods Darave and Nerul in Navi Mumbai, at 5:30pm and efforts to re-rail the TRT were underway, though these were being delayed by heavy rains in the region.

The TRT derailed on the Up line when it was returning to Kurla after finishing maintenance work near Nerul during a routine Sunday mega block, CR officials said.

Distressed commuters were irked by initial attempts by CR authorities to downplay the incident with a vague and all-encompassing term like "technical problems".

"Due to some technical problems between Seawoods Darave and Nerul on UP Harbour Line, Up & Down Line services on Harbour Line are temporarily suspended between Vashi and Panvel. All-out efforts are being made for early restoration," the Divisional Railway Manager of Central Railway wrote on X.

It is a big disruption lasting such a long time during evening peak hours, the least CR could have done is give proper information, an irate commuter said.

A CR official said services were operational between CSMT-Vashi-CSMT, Belapur-Panvel-Belapur and Thane-Nerul-Thane sections.