Railways and WB govt to discuss resumption of more suburban trains

The Eastern Railway and West Bengal State government will hold discussions to resume services of more suburban trains. Additional Chief Secretary (home) H K Dwivedi had urged the Eastern Railway to run a few pair of suburban trains daily.

Kolkata: The West Bengal government and the Eastern Railway will hold a meeting on Monday to discuss resumption of suburban train services, railway sources said.

The development comes a day after the state government wrote to the Eastern Railway (ER) seeking discussions for plying of more daily suburban trains by observing the COVID-19 regulations.

“There is a meeting tomorrow at the state secretariat. The general manager of Eastern Railway and other railway officials will be present. The chief secretary and the home secretary will be present on behalf of the state government. We will discuss various aspects related to the resumption of train services,” a senior railway official said.

Underlining the state government's efforts to help the railway authorities to run metro trains safely and efficiently, Additional Chief Secretary (home) H K Dwivedi had urged the Eastern Railway to run more daily suburban trains.

“Rather than taking resort (resorting) to unquiet means, we could and discuss how a few pairs of trains could be run locally in the morning and in the afternoon hours to serve the general commuters at large,” read the letter written by Dwivedi.

The decision to write to the Eastern Railway came in the backdrop of violence at Howrah station after the railway police chased away some commuters as they tried to break open the locked gate of the Howrah-Burdwan Staff Special Train at the station on Saturday.

(PTI)