The decision was taken after a delegation of corporators and residents of Matheran held talks with the railway's deputy general manager in Pune on Saturday, a day after 1,000 locals staged a demonstration at the Matheran railway station. They were protesting against a decision taken on Friday to reserve all the seats on each of the three mini-trains that service the sleepy resort in Raigad district. The mob had laid siege to the station at around 1 pm, when news of the reservation quota spread. The protest also disrupted train services by about two hours.

Resentment over an increase in the reserved quota to promote tourism had been building ever since the CentralRailway increased the number of reserved seats from 30 to 120. The locals point out that blocking these seats places them at a serious disadvantage as the train is the resort's lifeline. For one, a reserved seat costs Rs 39 (including Rs 15 as reservation charge) for the 22-km-long journey up the hillslope. Second, the 6,000-strong local populace has to often make unscheduled trips, which would have been curtailed. Supplies have to be regularly hauled in and with motor vehicles being banned inside the hill-station, rail travel is the only other alternative.

About 2,000 tourists visit Matheran in the holiday season and an estimated five lakh per year. However, the locals feel placing tourism on priority will harm their own interests. Increasing the reserved quota would also place them at the mercy of private taxi operators, who charge Rs 45 per head for the nine-km journey from Neral to Matheran by road. Cramming more than the maximum permissible four passengers into their vehicles they are notorious formaking a killing.