‘Allow folks staying in MMR, with two vax shots to travel on trains’

Passenger associations highlight travel and economic woes of people living in far flung places to State govt and Railways

With the state government thinking of easing restrictions from June, the railway passenger associations are demanding that at least people staying in Mumbai’s Metropolitan Region (MMR) should be allowed to travel on local trains. They have also suggested that people who have taken two vaccination shots and have a valid certificate should be allowed on trains. These are apart from those people working on essential duties.

At present people staying in far off places in MMR, like on Thane-Kalyan-Karjat/Kasara route on the Central Railway and Borivali-Virar-Dahanu on Western Railway face a tough time travelling. This is the same for those on essential duties. According to the railway authorities, there are people who travel illegally without valid ID proof and fake IDs, for work despite being disallowed.

The passenger associations claim that one of the biggest reasons is that the livelihood of people are severely hit. In a letter to

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, the commuter body Federation of Suburban Railway Passengers Association has said that the ‘Break the Chain’ formula is frustrating for those living beyond Kalyan. “We have approached both the Indian Railways and Maharashtra government urging them to allow at least those who stay beyond Kalyan in

MMR, to travel in local trains from June. We have been suggesting them to go for staggered office timing, which shall ease the situation,” said its president Nandkumar Deshmukh.

The local trains (aka lifeline) is the only mode of transport for people and the railways have been catching for ticketless travel and without valid documents every day. “The railways should give travel authority and issue daily tickets to those who produce vaccination certificates of both doses,” said Shailesh Goyal, member Zonal Railway Users Consultative Committee.

The passenger associations state that they should also include few riders on this, like people who complete the second dosage should wait for 15-17 days before travel; certificates should be kept handy at all times etc. At present the Central and Western Railways together are ferrying 16-20 lakh people on essential duties everyday which is over 20 per cent.

“How long will railways and the state government prevent people from using the trains. There is a need to allow people staying in far suburbs to be allowed to travel in local trains. The railways should innovate the methods of train travel, access control, create quota systems with limited tickets per hour and run train services as per peak/nonpeak hours,” said Siddesh Desai, vice-president of the Mumbai Rail Pravasi Sangh.