Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal has on Tuesday accepted Maharashtra government's request to allow women to travel in suburban trains. Taking to Twitter, Goyal said, "I am happy to announce that Railways will allow women to travel on suburban trains from 21 Oct between 11 am to 3 pm & after 7 pm." "We were always ready and with the receipt of letter from Maharashtra Govt today, we have allowed this travel," he added.
On Tuesday, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra government had for the second time requested the Railways to allow women to travel in suburban trains.
Maharashtra Chief Secretary Sanjay Kumar had written to both -- Central and Western Railways -- for initiating local train services for women.
"The State Government had communicated that all the women commuters with a valid ticket may be allowed to board trains during the non-peak hours (11 AM to 3 PM and again 7 PM onwards till end of local services for that day) as per the discussion held between the representatives of all stakeholders including the State Government and the Railways," the letter read.
The Western Railway had on Monday said it was ready to allow women on trains, however, was awaiting Central government’s response. “Maharashtra govt requested us on Oct 16 to allow local trains services for women, from 11 am to 3 pm & from 7 pm till the end of services for the day. We wrote them back & asked them to assess the quantum of passengers & asked them to jointly decide the modalities,” Sumit Thakur, CPRO Western Railway said.
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