Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu proposes staggered work hours to combat suburban commuter rush

A special purpose vehicle (SVP) with an objective to have an integrated approach to all projects with the participation of railways, state government, municipal corporations and local authorities would be constituted to address the problems related to projects and waste management.

“I strongly believe we should stagger the working hours to even out the crowd in local trains. In Mumbai, it is noticed that the office-going crowd peaks between 8 and 10 in the morning, and between 5.30 and 7.30 in the evening. If the offices corporate and the government space out their working hour schedule by a couple of hours before or after, depending on their requirement, it would go a long way in easing the overcrowding in trains,” said Prabhu.

The railway minister held a meeting with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at Mantralaya to discuss commuters’ problems and long pending projects.

Speaking to the media at the BJP headquarters in Mumbai, Prabhu said: “I had a very fruitful meeting with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. As was promised, we reviewed and discussed major projects and how to go about them in the coming days.”

The minister who is well versed with Mumbai said: “I understand the issues of the city and its local trains. There are two aspects to addressing the overcrowding in local trains. One is to increase to the supply as per demand, which would mean increase the number of trains. Another is to work out a least cost solution. I believe we should reschedule working hours across the offices to phase out the crowd in trains. It would apply to all government offices as well as the corporate sector.”

He, however, said the decision of staggered working hours could not be taken by him and that it would have to be an initiative from the offices concerned and the state government.

“In the past, when I was the Union energy minister in the NDA government, I had suggested staggering of office hours as one of the aspects to tackle crowd management in local trains. In case of power also, we face the same problems. The power demand peaks between 7 am and 11 am and 6 pm and 9 pm. Though the two issues are different, I believe non-peak hour trains often don’t have full capacity passengers. So, if a little adjustment is made things could be better,” said Prabhu.

About other railway projects like increasing train services, maintenance of platforms and waste disposal, he said: “As the railway minister, I believe every state should take a decision on projects they want on priority and work out with us. And also on solid waste management, there would be a greater coordination between railways, BMC and state authorities. After all, waste disposed from stations needs to be further treated by the civic authorities. So, an integrated approach to the issue would be undertaken through a committee.”