In what came as a pleasant surprise for women commuters, the Maharashtra Government on Friday announced that it would allow all ladies to travel by suburban trains for a specified number of hours during a day in Mumbai and Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) from Saturday.
Unveiling a major lockdown unlocking measure for women commuters, Maharashtra’s Disaster Management, Relief & Rehabilitation Secretary Kishor Raje Nimbalkar wrote to the General Managers of Western Railway and Central
Railway, saying that beginning Saturday, all lady commuters be permitted to travel by local trains from 11 am to 3 pm and from 7 pm till end of the last services operated for the day.
“It is requested that local train services may be made available to all ladies from 11 am to 3 pm and again from 7 pm onwards till the end of local services for the day, with effect from October 17 in Mumbai and MMR,” Nimbalkar wrote in his letter to the General Managers of Western Railway and Central Railway.
“During the said time period, entry may be allowed to all ladies having valid tickets and to all emergency staff as well. QR codes will not be required for ladies travelling during the said time period,” Nimbalkar said.
The local train services to all the personnel of all sectors that have been notified as the emergency services till date shall continue as being provided currently i.e., for the entire day. “You are requested to also increase the frequency of local trains as per the increased demand,” Nimbalkar stated in his letters to both the Western and Central Railway GMs.
Though the state government has asked the women commuters to travel during the non-peak hours of the morning, the state government’s move is bound to help thousands of women commuters who travel to downtown Mumbai and other parts of Mumbai where offices and business establishments are located.
The Maharashtra government’s move to allow women commuters to travel by suburban trains for a specified number of hours during a day in Mumbai and MMR from Saturday, comes ahead of the resumption of Mumbai Metro services from Mumbai from Monday. The Mumbai metro rail resumption will further help ease the woes of the women commuters, who have not been attending their offices since April this year.