Mumbai Local Train Services To Start Today For Essential Service Workers

MUMBAI: Western Railways decided to start the selected suburban services over WR from Monday, 15th June, 2020 for the essential service workers. The general public will not be allowed and 1.25 lakh people who are identified as essential staff by the state government of Maharashtra will be allowed to board these local trains. The trains will run between Churchgate and Virar but a few will also run up to Dahanu Road. The trains will run from 5:30 am to 11:30 pm with an interval of 15 minutes.

Railways officials had urged the government of Maharashtra to issue a list of all the employees in advance and make a bulk payment for their tickets to avoid crowding at the booking windows. A Railway Official stated that “There is no uniformity of identity cards of essential workers. This makes it difficult to control who should be allowed to avail the services.” Only 700 people are allowed per train and adequate social distancing will be maintained in the coaches.  Railways has laid out a detailed set of guidelines.

• Both Central, Western Railway and certain booking windows will be opened on which respective staff will be facilitated on showing their ID cards.
• It has been decided to extend the validity of the season ticket to the extent of days lost.
• People will be allowed into the station only after showing their ID cards. The staff will be issued QR based E-passes which will also bear colour coding to enable swifter ticket checking.
• Ambulances will be kept at each station along with the medical staff to deal with any emergency situation by respective Municipal Corporations.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray requested PM Modi to start local trains in Mumbai for essential services staff working in the city. He said that, "Local trains should be operated for those people who are allowed to go to work in the Mumbai region. They can board these trains only using their ID cards," he said. Maharashtra on Sunday reported 3,390 fresh COVID-19 cases and total number of cases stood at 1,07,958. 3,950 people have died due to COVID-19 so far. Mumbai is one of the most affected cities by COVID-19.