Long wait for screening, ID checks

A day after resumption of suburban train services only for them, essential service workers queuing up to board local trains on Tuesday expressed their frustration with the long wait for thermal screening and ID checks before being allowed to board.

As many as 70,000 passengers commuted on suburban trains until 8pm on Tuesday, up from 55,000 the previous day.

There were serpentine queues outside Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) on Tuesday evening, as people waited for their turn to be checked before being allowed in for their journey home. On average, commuters had to wait for at least 40 mins before boarding, with thermal scanning and ID checks of passengers consuming a lot of time. Trains are operating at a delayed interval too, adding to the crowds.

Railway officials are now planning to increase staff strength at stations to check commuters, so that the wait can be minimised.

“If this is going to happen every day, we will be delayed and we will also miss our train. Railways should increase their staff deployed for conducting thermal scanning of passengers,” Rajesh Chavan, who works at St George Hospital, told The Free Press Journal as he waited in a queue with several others ahead of him.

Another passenger said the time consumed outside the station and in waiting for a BEST bus was almost the same, with only difference being that at stations there was the added factor of thermal screening. “We can understand all these things are necessary, but there’s no point as nearly an hour is wasted until our turn arrives. Instead of this, they should increase the number of their staff or counters for speeding up the work,” said Shweta Singh, a resident of Kalyan. With local trains operating at delayed intervals, social distancing was also being jeopardized as crowds were being formed as passengers waited for trains. Senior Railway officials said the protocol laid down by the state government, of screening all passengers before entering the stations, was being adhered to. “We would urge commuters to understand the scenario, and soon we will increase our staff strength to reduce waiting period,” said a Railway official.