Mumbai: Flexible office hours for Central Railway city DRM staff

Relief applies to 31,000 staff working at the DRM office at CSMT

The Central Railway on Friday announced the implementation of much-awaited flexible working hours for all its employees in the Mumbai divisional railway manager's (DRM) office to avoid the suburban train rush hour and reach offices in time. This decision will be applicable to the 31,000 staff working in the Mumbai DRM office at CSMT.

The railways had tried out staggered timings for their offices during the pandemic, but this is the first time that is being implemented as a regular practice. Railway officials said that staggered timings would probably be of help once it is set. The earliest mention of staggering the working hours was seen among several recommendations that the Suburban Train Overcrowding Committee made in July 1956.

"The Mumbai division is going to introduce flexible working hours for the benefit of the employees from November 1. To avoid peak hours of travelling by trains from the residential place to the CSMT, Mumbai division, Central Railway has decided to introduce two working hours slots, which include the first slot between 9.30 am to 5.45 pm and second slot between 11.30 am to 7.45 pm," a senior official said. Presently all the CR office staff work in the first slot.

"The employees will have the flexibility to select one of the above rosters, but any changes to the roster must be made at the beginning of a new month. Mid-month changes will not be allowed. This procedure is designed to ensure smooth operations and planning. The flexible work schedule is to be implemented for the divisional railway manager's office at CSMT, Mumbai only," he said.

City railway passenger associations have been talking about the need for staggered office timings for all and took up the matter till the chief minister's office due to increasing crowds in trains welcomed the decision. "This is a step in the right direction. There are huge and unmanageable crowds and it is leading to a lot of chaos with a single disruption. There are increasing cases of anger and fights during rush hours because everyone needs to reach their offices at the same time. We met the chief minister last year in this regard as the process has to begin from the government side as most of the commuters during rush hour are from government undertakings, units and various corporations and bodies," Nandkumar Deshmukh, president of Federation of Suburban Passengers' Association, said.