Mumbai: The Western Railway (WR) on Saturday witnessed a rail roko at Naigaon, demanding train services from Vasai to Andheri on Saturdays. The line towards Churchgate remained shut for 45 minutes even as GRP and RPF cleared the tracks.
Nearly 50 to 60 people took to the railway tracks, blocking Churchgate-bound trains on the slow line from 08.05 am to 09.13 am, and on the fast line between 08.30 am and 09.15 am, demanding the running of Vasai Road-Andheri services on Saturdays. The services resumed not before 09.15 am.
Ravinder Bhakar, chief public relations officer, WR, issued a press release saying, “In this regard, it is pertinent to mention that in the new suburban time-table introduced on October 1, 2017, there has been an increase in services from 436 to 466 at Naigaon on weekdays. On Saturdays, there are 436 services as two rakes of 15-car are withdrawn for maintenance of safe and punctual train operations. Thus, there is no drop in the total number of services at Naigaon on Saturdays, in spite of withdrawal of 15-car services for maintenance purposes.” “We are working tirelessly to ensure punctual and safe services for commuters. Every effort has been made to increase services in this time-table and people still reacting like this is not fair.
People cannot hold trains to ransom with such demands. Stopping trains without prior notice/ discussion with the administration causes a lot of inconvenience to the railway and the general public at large,” said Mr Bhakar.
