Central Railway rolls back experiment of modifying seating arrangement in Mumbai suburban locals

The Central Railway (CR) has decided to roll back its experiment of modifying seating arrangements in suburban train compartments. As part of the modification, three seats close to the compartment door were removed in order to create space and accommodate more standing passengers. The modification was carried out in 2015 on experimental basis in a few trains, after instances of commuters falling from crowded compartments.

However, passengers did not like the arrangements as the trains on which the modifications were done were mostly operated on longer routes such as Karjat, Ambernath, Asangaon and Titwala instead of shorter routes such as Thane and Kalyan. The commuters had approached CR officials and asked them to reintroduce the seats in the compartments.

“The seat modification was done in eight local trains on pilot basis. It has now been decided to restore to the original seating arrangements, on the basis of passenger feedback received over a period of time,” said Sunil Udasi, chief public relations officer, CR.

“It is a wonderful move and it is welcomed by the passengers. Commuters were troubled a lot because of removing the seating arrangements,” said Subash Gupta, president of Rail Yatri Parishad, a passenger association.