Mumbai commuter associations have asked Central Railway Mumbai (CR) to stagger trains instead of office timings of Mumbaikars to keep a balance of suburban services. A new Vande Bharat train from Jalna—the constituency of Minister of State for Railways Raosaheb Danve Patil—was flagged off to CSMT amid hype on Saturday, making it the fifth such train to Mumbai in the last few years. A few other new express trains have also been introduced recently.

Passenger associations said that no new local train services have been introduced in the past few years, but Vande Bharat other populist trains find a way, all the way into CSMT. “On the one hand, CR is saying there is no path for trains and staggering office timings was the need of the hour to kill the concept of rush hour in Mumbai, but on the other, all kinds of new trains are being introduced,” a passenger association member said. “There are no tourists or places of importance in Jalna. What was the research that led to the start of a premium train between Jalna and Mumbai, except for the fact that it is the railway minister of state’s election constituency?” another member asked.