Day 1 of local trains for all sees the return of ‘rush hour’ in Mumbai

In a glimpse of pre-lockdown period, 1.9mn travel by CR and 1.5mn by WR during non-peak hrs

MUMBAI: Nearly 3.4 million passengers travelled by local trains on the first day after suburban train services resumed for the general public after 10 months. Nearly 1.9 million passengers had travelled by Central Railway (CR) and 1.5 million had travelled by Western Railway (WR) by late Monday night. Before the lockdown, 8 million people travelled by Mumbai’s local train network daily.

Local train services were suspended on March 23, 2020, and had resumed for certain groups, like essential workers and cancer patients, since July 15, 2020. As of Monday, suburban train services are open to the public from the first local train of the day till 7am; between 12pm to 4pm; and post 9pm till the last local train of the day. Face masks are mandatory for those travelling by train.

On Monday, there were long queues at booking offices outside Nalasopara, Kurla, Ghatkopar, Diva, Thane and Dadar railway stations. “At Nallasopara station there was a bit of crowd for renewal of season passes. On explaining that time slots beyond 7am till 12am are for nominated categories, they dispersed,” said Sumit Thakur, chief public relations officer (PRO), WR.

Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel at Kurla, Dadar and Ghatkopar railway stations were seen streamlining passengers and directing queues. Ticket-checking staff were deployed on foot overbridges and at platforms. On Monday, Government Railway Police (GRP) collected ₹1,02,400 in fines (₹55,000 on CR; ₹47,400 on WR) from passengers travelling without face masks.

“There is an excitement to travel by local train after 10 months. However, some people have come to the station only to get their passes renewed,” said Dinesh Trivedi, a Vidyavihar resident who had to wait 20 minutes to get a train ticket at Kurla station. Commuters said there was no crowd inside the train compartments.