Western Railway’s (WR) new suburban timetable, which came into effect on Thursday, led to a fair amount of confusion and annoyance for commuters at Jogeshwari station.
WR has rescheduled several services to make room for 10 new suburban services, besides extending 122 services. In its efforts to reduce the run time of trains, it has discontinued halts of six fast locals originating from Malad and Goregaon at Jogeshwari station.
But commuters complained about the changes on social media. Regular travellers from Jogeshwari also gheraoed the station master in the morning, besides launching a signature campaign. The Railway Protection Force had been forewarned about a potential flare-up and had kept adequate staff on standby.
Railway officials said WR had extended 40 Churchgate-bound locals orginating at Andheri to Goregaon. Moreover, they provided additional halts to six services to compensate for the ones they had taken away. “These halts are either a few minutes before or after the original train services. It is just the first day. Commuters will adjust their timings and realise the benefit of the extra services to Churchgate from the Harbour corridor,” a senior railway official said.
Mansoor Darvesh, president of Passenger and Traffic Relief Association, said while he was happy that WR had increased the number of services on the Harbour corridor, more halts should have been given on the main line. “The Harbour line platforms are very difficult to access, especially from the East,” he said.
