Maharashtra government discusses staggered office timings; decision on allowing all in Mumbai local trains likely to be taken soon

To permit private employees to travel by local trains, the state government on Wednesday discussed the implementation of staggered office timings, along with the

To permit private employees to travel by local trains, the state government on Wednesday discussed the implementation of staggered office timings, along with the introduction of colour-coded quick response (QR) based system for the suburban railway network.

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Vijay Wadettiwar, relief and rehabilitation minister said that the decision over allowing all passengers will be taken soon. “We have been assessing the possibilities of allowing opening up of the train travel in a phased manner and prioritising sectors. The citizens of Mumbai will not be made to wait longer,” he said.

According to the officials from the relief and rehabilitation department, the permission to all passengers to travel in locals immediately was not possible.

“We have been identifying the sectors that can be prioritised for the travel and at the same time would not put a burden on the train services. After assessing the experience of women commuters travelling in non-peak hours for next week, another segment of commuters is expected to be allowed. We may choose essential services like pharmaceuticals, food industries to be allowed board locals,” the officer said.

The officer further stated that a few other sectors like restaurants, call centres may be allowed to travel on non-peak hours so that the services do not get burdened. He also pointed out that though both railways have been operating more than 40% of their total pre-Covid services, the passengers allowed currently are not in the proportion. This means there is room for more passengers to be allowed at least in non-peak hours.

Central and Western Railway authorities along with passenger unions suggested the change in the office hours to reduce crowding inside local train compartments.

“The government is concerned and wants to permit everyone to travel by local trains. We suggested the change in shift times until the coronavirus pandemic lasts. The change in office hours will drastically reduce overcrowding. The state government can only ask the private sector companies to implement change in the office hours.” said Lata Argade, secretary, Suburban Railway Passenger Association who attended the meeting.

“We have received inputs from associations representing jewellery, passengers today. The rolling out of the plans will help the suggestions we received from them. Instead of regulating any sector, we want to encourage them to go for the staggering of the office timings.” said the official from the relief and rehabilitation department.

Railway officials also suggested the implementation of adopting a colour-coded QR based ticketing system.

Commuters would be provided time slots within which they can travel for work. These time slots would be designated different colours and could be displayed on the QR code on tickets and travel passes. Passengers will be allowed to commute during the particular time slots available to them.

“The Kolkata Metro is having the colour coded QR based systems which can also be introduced on the local train network here. We have recommended the same to the state government. It could be helpful once trains resume for the general public.” said a senior railway official who attended the meeting.

However, the state government officials stated that the implementation of colour coding could not be possible because of the quantum of passengers. “The colour coding and booking of the tickets that are being implemented by Kolkata Metro may not be applicable here in Mumbai for the huge quantum of passengers.” said a state government official.