WR, CR to start additional 204 services from Jan 29

The Western (WR) and Central Railway (CR) have now decided to run 95 per cent of its suburban services which will be effective from January 29. According to the statement issued by the railways, an additional 204 special local train services will be run on the Mumbai suburban network from Friday, increasing the total numbers of services to 2,985.

Officials said they are only increasing the services and only essential staff identified by the state government are allowed to travel now.

This comes after the Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday said a decision on allowing all commuters to board suburban train services in Mumbai will be taken ‘soon’. “The addition of 204 suburban services will lead to resumption of about 95 percent of the total 3,141 local train services, which were being operated collectively by the CR and WR before the

COVID-19 outbreak,” said a railway officials said.

Thackeray had held a review meeting on Monday on the resumption of suburban train services.

On Tuesday evening, the WR had announced that it would resume 100 per cent suburban services on its network, but later withdrew the decision. "The Central Railway has now decided to increase the suburban services from the existing 1,580 to 1,685 services, and the Western Railway has decided to increase the existing 1,201 suburban services to 1,300 services with effect from Friday," the CR and WR said in the joint statement.