After Rail Roko at Vidyavihar station, the CR decides to operate one more shuttle for its employees

Just three shuttle services for workmen of CR car sheds upsets its employees as they cannot board in overcrowded shuttles

Mumbai: Failure to do a ground reality check by the Central Railway (CR) before calling upon its employees to report at work amid lockdown has left its employees angry. On Monday, the upset workmen stopped the shuttle service meant for them for 45-minutes at Vidyavihar station. They demanded for extra shuttle to run as over-crowding in the three shuttles as social distancing norms were being flouted thereby risking their lives.

Presently the Central Railway in Mumbai Division is running 3 emergency vehicles for essential staff. It includes shuttles for Karjat and Kasara. Along with the railway staff from car-sheds of Kurla, Matunga, Parel, Lower Parel, Wadi Bunder and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT), staff of Railway Protection Force and medical are also travelling in these emergency vehicles run by the Central Railway.

Amidst the lockdown the Central Railway is carrying out operations at its workshops for maintenance of its suburban local trains and other allied activities, so as to keep the rakes in operational condition.

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Anil Mahendru Joint General Secretary of CRMS, a union of Indian Railways said, “On Monday workmen and other staff from Kurla car-shed was waiting for the shuttle. They could not board in the earlier shuttle due to overcrowding thus they staged rail roko at Vidyavihar railway station.”

Mahendru boarded in shuttle from Matunga explained that the CRMS union is demanding Workmen Special Train for its staff from Matunga and Parel however it is continuously ignored. The shuttles sometimes have 12 cars or 9 cars, thus it leads to lot of confusion and frustration among the staff.

“The CR can operate its Workmen special for convenience of workmen from the two workshops. The shuttles are over-crowded and hence no one follows social distancing in the time of coronavirus pandemic, “added Mahendru.

Shivaji Sutar Chief Public Relation Officer (CR) said, “The emergency vehicle was stopped at Vidyavihar from 17.30 hrs. to 18.13 hrs. for railway staff. The reason for stopping at Vidyavihar is being investigated.  Considering the gradual restarting of passenger train services on Indian Railways and additional frontline staff and back-end staff who are also required to run these services, Mumbai Division will run one more emergency vehicle for essential railway staff between 16.30 -17.00 hrs in addition to the existing emergency vehicles.