Rlys to go back to 95% of pre-covid ops from Friday

MUMBAI: Central and Western Railways’ local train operation in Mumbai will return to nearly full service with up to 95% of its precovid-19 outbreak schedule resuming from Friday, confirmed officials. The decision comes two days after the meeting to consider resumption of local train services for all commuters was held on Monday under Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray’s leadership.

However, all passengers are not permitted yet to travel by local trains. Local train services in the metropolis are currently available for the essential services staff, the specially-abled and cancer patients. Women passengers and lawyers are also allowed to commute during a stipulated period.

Both the zonal railways announced on Tuesday late night, the decision to operate additional local train services.

From Friday, the Central Railway (CR) will operate 1,685 local train services daily as opposed to 1,580 train services running currently and the Western Railway (WR) will operate 1,300 local train services as opposed to 1,201 train services, running currently.

Earlier, Western Railway had announced the resumption of all local train services from Friday. However, the decision was rescinded later.

Before the coronavirus induced lockdown was imposed, resulting in the suspension of routine railway services in

March last year, the CR operated 1,774 train services and the WR operated 1,367 train services.

“Additional 204 local train services will be added on the Central and Western Railway from January 29. Passengers, as permitted by the ministry of railways and the government of Maharashtra, are only allowed to travel by the suburban trains,” said Sumit Thakur, chief public relation officer, WR.

Passenger associations have stated that the late-night move by the railways has created confusion among the general public. “The meeting with the chief minister is a positive sign that the train services will resume for all soon. However, railways internal communications leak on social media and haphazard decisions have created confusion among passengers. Many think that train services will resume for all on January 29. This can lead to overcrowding,” said Subhash Gupta, president, Rail Yatri Parishad.

Meanwhile, the divisional railway manager GVL Satyakumar tweeted on Wednesday morning, appealing to the public not to rush to the railway stations.

“APPEAL: Passengers, as permitted by the Ministry of Railways and government of Maharashtra, are only allowed to travel by the suburban trains. Others are requested not to rush to the Rly stations. Please adhere (to) all norms, SOPS related to COVID19 during boarding, travel & at destination,” tweeted the divisional railway manager, Western Railway.