The Central Railway said it would ask government and corporate sectors in Mumbai to stagger their office timings in order to reduce crowding in the suburban network. Before writing to government and private offices, staggered timings will be implemented in his office from November 1, said CR's Mumbai Divisional Railway Manager Rajnish Goyal on Monday.Addressing a press conference, he said the initiative is being carried out on "trial basis", adding that staffers have been given full freedom to choose the time slot and have also been told to give suggestions so that shortcomings can be overcome. "Out of the 32,000 employees in CR's Mumbai division, more than 1,500 are in the DRM office. They have been given the choice of flexible work slots of 9:30am to 5:54pm and 11:30am to 7:45pm," he said.
While passenger levels have not reached pre-COVID levels, the morning and evening "rush hours" continue to remain severely crowded, he said, adding that 560 people died after falling off local trains last year and 350 have lost their lives in this manner this year."If any system has such a huge crowd, the chance of accidents cannot be ruled out. The suburban network is over-stressed and overcrowded. Efforts to manage peak hour rush have been underway since the 1990s without much success," he pointed out. He said the staggered timing initiative is being implemented as CR is the "biggest sufferer" due to accidents on the suburban network as train operations and punctuality are affected.
"We are going to write to the state secretariat, hospitals, schools, colleges, banks, police, and corporate houses later this week. Even if 20–30 per cent organisations adopt staggered office timings, it will be great relief," Goyal said. Goyal has been heading the Mumbai division of CR for around three years and has taken several steps to reduce overcrowding at major suburban stations like Dadar, Thane and Kalyan. At Dadar and Thane, Goyal has widened a few suburban platforms, while at Kalyan, he removed the old structures to reduce the inconvenience to the public.