MUMBAI, August 13: The Central Railway has decided not to introduce any changes in its new suburban time table without taking into consideration the views of commuters.

Despite the chaos last week, which led to total disruption of suburban services, CR divisional railway manager Rakesh Chopra maintained the newly introduced time table of August 1, 1997 has improved punctuality in services, especially during peak hours.

Addressing a press conference at the CR headquarters on Tuesday, Chopra said customer satisfaction is the sole aim of CR. He, however, emphasised the CR would not make any changes in time table for a particular group. He welcomed suggestions from commuters and the over 40-odd commuter associations, but added it would be ``wrong on our part to satisfy any one group.''

Chopra claimed over 77 per cent of the morning peak hour trains coming from suburbs reached Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus within five minutes of their expected arrival time. The average punctuality in regular services has also gone up, he added.

Commenting on Monday's violent agitation by commuters, Chopra pleaded the public should not take law into their hands. He admitted deficiencies exist in the public address system, but added the CR administration has been making efforts to rectify them. Because of the cleaniness drive taken up by the railways along with Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) before the monsoon this year, he said, derailments and flooding of tracks have apparently been reduced. He informed that during the cleaniness drive, several drains hidden under garbage for as along as 25 years were traced.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.