Sunday travel from Thane railway station to get safer for women

Thane

Thane

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Sunday travel for women passengers will be less chaotic.

Thane Government Railway Police (GRP) has introduced a queue system for women passengers boarding local trains at Thane railway station.

The system will be followed only on Sundays to ease commute of commuters, who mostly travel on Sundays.

A trial system was carried out last Sunday.

According to Thane GRP senior police inspector, Smita Dhakne, the decision was taken to bring in discipline at the station.

Thane railway station connects both central and transharbour lines and see around 10 lakh passengers a day. However, the crowd on Sundays is not the regular ones.

“Daily office-goers are used to the crowd and manage to board the crowded locals. However, on Sundays, commuters travelling from other cities who rarely travel in trains take the locals. It leads to more inconvenience as they struggle to board trains. Often, a family member is left behind at the platforms, as he is unable to board the train,” said Dhakne.

On Sundays, Thane station will have a queue in front of general women’s compartments.

“The exercise was done on a trial basis on Sunday and we saw that the discipline led to smoother boarding of commuters. The railway officials deployed at the platforms were directed to help commuters. We have decided to continue it on every Sunday at Thane railway station,” said Dhakne.

Platforms number 2 and 4 see the most crowd even on Sundays. “We will ensure women form queues for the safe boarding of commuters in the local trains,” said a GRP official, Thane.

Commuters are happy that there will be some discipline at platforms.

“It’s a good initiative. Several times, we have seen that women struggle to board train with children in tow. At times, commuters are new to the city and boarding crowded trains becomes a nightmare,” said Sakshi Thakur, 38, a regular commuter from Dombivli.

This will also help senior citizens travel safely.

“This will help women, especially senior citizens, travelling with their children. Even those who have to alight can safely step out of the compartment,” said Divya Shastri, 28, a regular commuter from Thane.

This will also reduce crimes, said the officials.

“Usually four to five cases of chain snatching or mobile thefts are filed. Miscreants at platforms take advantage of the crowd and commit crimes such as chain-snatching and stealing wallets and mobiles. On Sunday, following the queue system, we did not see any crime near women’s compartments at Thane station,” added Dhakne.