Will raise woes of commuters of local trains with Maha CM:Tope

Several commuters using Mumbaislocal train network have complained about the inconveniencecaused to them due to the restricted time slots and this issuewill be flagged before Maharashtra Chief Minister UddhavThackeray, state Health Minister Rajesh Tope said onWednesday.Mumbai suburban railway system opened for generalpublic during non-peak hours on Monday after an unprecedented10-month closure.I am aware of several complaints being raised bycommuters of local trains over the permitted time slots.

Several commuters using Mumbai'slocal train network have complained about the inconveniencecaused to them due to the restricted time slots and this issuewill be flagged before Maharashtra Chief Minister UddhavThackeray, state Health Minister Rajesh Tope said onWednesday.

Mumbai suburban railway system opened for generalpublic during non-peak hours on Monday after an unprecedented10-month closure.

''I am aware of several complaints being raised bycommuters of local trains over the permitted time slots. Ihave discussed the issue with state chief secretary and wouldsoon flag it before the chief minister,'' Tope told reporters.

Commuters are allowed to board suburban trains onCentral, Western, Harbour and Trans-Harbour lines in threetime slots from 4.15 am to 7 am, 12 noon to 4 pm and from 9pm till the end of services. During rush hours i.e from 8 amto 11 am and 5 pm to 8 pm, only those involved in essentialservices and government employees are allowed to board a localtrain.

On an average, 80 lakh commuters used to travel on theMumbai suburban trains every day, before their services weresuspended in March last year to check coronavirustransmission.

In the absence of local trains, which are called asthe ''lifeline'' of Mumbai, commuters faced a huge inconvenienceas they were forced to travel by buses, a journey manydescribed as time-consuming and uncomfortable.