The suburban train solutions on Western Railway was disrupted for an hour on Wednesday early morning following commuters staged a rail roko protest at Palghar, Kelwe Road and Saphale railheads on Wednesday morning. The irate commuters have been protesting more than the modify in timings of Dahanu suburban train solutions which is to be implemented from Thursday (December 3). However, the solutions resumed following the GRP and the Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel RPF removed the agitating commuters from the tracks. Railway officials stated the timings have been changed temporarily.
This comes following the WR on Tuesday announced to restore from December 3 the timings of 4 unique suburban locals, that are presently becoming run for emergency solutions employees, to their original schedules which have been efficient just before the coronavirus-induced lockdown came into force in March.
Currently, the very first nearby train from Dahanu in Palghar district is departing at 4.40 am and reaching Churchgate in south Mumbai at 7.04 am. As per the restored timings to come in impact from Thursday, the train will leave from Dahanu at 5.40 am and attain Andheri in western suburbs at 7.34 am.
Government Railway Police (GRP) official stated the passengers agitated more than the modify in timings following some commuters began a ‘rail roko’ agitation at Palghar station and sat on tracks there about 5.15 am on Wednesday. Meanwhile, a related protest was staged at Kelve and Safale stations in Palghar district about 5.30 am. However, the agitation at Palghar station ended about 5.45 am and at the other two stations it ended at 6.30 am.
One of the commuters stated presently only 70 per cent of solutions are becoming operated by railways and in among that they have changed the timings which will build far more difficulties for all the commuters. “The new revised timetable will lead to chaos at the stations. There is a gap of two hours with no direct train till 5:40 am, leaving many office-goers and emergency workers in the lurch,” he stated.
Sumit Thakur, CPRO, WR’s stated train solutions on the suburban network are standard now. “We have only decided to restore the special suburban services to their original timings which were effective before the COVID-19 lockdown. We are reviewing the demand of passengers, but we have just restored the original timetable of Dahanu locals and haven’t made any change in the timetable,” he stated.