Violent protests by Mumbai suburban train passengers
early this year prompted Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu to streamline the
heavily-congested and crowded local train commute and also to propose to
stagger office hours in India's financial capital.
He said "I strongly believe we should stagger
the working hours to even out the crowd in local trains. In Mumbai, it is
noticed that the majority of the office-going crowd peaks between 8 am and 10
am in the morning. And in the evening after the office work, it again peaks
between 5.30 pm and 7.30 pm," Prabhu said.
"If the offices - both corporate and government
- space out their working hours or schedule a couple of hours ahead or after
depending on their requirements, it would go a long way to ease the overcrowding
in the trains," the Railway Minister said, adding, "I have suggested
CM Devendra Fadnavis to segregate office timings in Mumbai."
The suburban local trains in Mumbai saw a major
breakdown last week when the delay on a line resulted in harrowed passengers
throwing stones and resorting to vandalising public property at Diva station.
The suburban trains, which ferry around eight million commuters daily from
far-flung areas in Mumbai and the three adjoining districts of Thane, Palghar
and Raigad, are considered the lifeline of the Maximum City.
Apart from the office hours proposal, the railway
ministry has also proposed two major elevated roads from Churchgate to Virar
and CST to Panvel. The proposed six-lane elevated roads running along the
railway tracks would reduce the road traffic congestion considerably and
generate a lot of revenue.
The Maharashtra government has also sanctioned the
Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP-3), which has been cleared by Prabhu, and
work is expected to start soon.
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