Mumbai: Railways ready to start local trains, says will work with state

While responding positively to the Maharashtra governments proposal to open up the suburban railways for all commuters the Central Railway and Western Railway have sought more details to implement the plans officials said here on ThursdayThe spokespersons WRs Sumit Thakur and CRs Shivaji Sutar said that they would work with the state government to hammer out the nittygritties in this regard even as commuters and passengers groups built pressure to allow access to all for local trains from Nov 1On an average around 85 lakh commuters use the 3200 services on the Mumbai suburban section daily serving Mumbai Mumbai Suburban Thane Palghar and Raigad districts of the congested Mumbai Metropolitan Region MMRThe MMR network the lifeline of Mumbai is spread over 390 kms with 157 stations transporting the commuters to and from their homes and workplaces including the Mumbais famed DabbawalasAt presdent the CR and WR operate around 1410 local trains serving around 12 percent of the normal crowds but permitting only people in essential services and other categories gradually allowed after the Unlock process was initiatedAs per the Unlock protocols a maximum 700 commuters are allowed in a 12car EMU rake against the normal 1200 seated commuters plus many more standeesThe Railways has always been ready to augmentenhance suburban services keeping social distancing norms We are working closely with the Maharashtra government to provide additional services after consultation with them about necessary modalities accordingly Thakur and Sutar saidThe state government has prepared a schedule with the categories of the people who would be permitted to commute both essential workers and others in the peak hours or nonpeak periods besides one Ladies Special train every hour as per a letter issued by Disaster Management Secretary Kishore Raje Nimbalkar late on WednesdayThe railways have sought certain additional details on the proposal from the state government and it is expected that after a joint meeting the plans may fructify in the next 23 daysPassengers groups on Thursday clamoured for immediate action by the Indian Railways on the state government proposal to help the millions of people wanting to resume their duties in private and government officesPresently commuters spend an average of 57 hours by road commute besides the 89 hours of office duties making it a harrowing experience especially for women who have to balance both home and workplacesKeep scrolling to read more newsCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest newsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever