Mumbai local trains: Crowds up slightly, railway’s real test today

Commuters at an FoB at Ghatkopar station. Pic/Sameer Markande

After being thrown open to the fully vaccinated public, Monday saw slightly more crowded trains than Sunday. The real test though will be on Tuesday - the first working day after August 15 and the railways claim that they are fully prepared.

"There were more crowds during the morning and evening rush hours on Monday as compared to Sunday. But it being a public holiday, government offices and other establishments remained closed. On Tuesday, both government and private offices will have their first normal working day since access was allowed to the fully vaccinated," a senior railway official said.

As per the statistics of Day 1 (August 15), only 18.45 lakh commuters travelled on Mumbai railway with 9.5 lakh on the Central Railway (CR) and 8.50 lakh on Western Railway (WR). CR and WR both announced additional services from Monday itself.

As per officials, all booking counters are now open and tickets are being issued to bonafide passengers with chief booking supervisors guiding and counselling passengers. WR has activated regular announcements regarding categories of people allowed to travel in local trains - fully vaccinated, government employees, etc.

Ticket checking staff in tandem with the RPF, GRP and the municipal corporation have been deployed near help desks to advise people about their eligibility regarding travel in local trains.

Also read: Mumbai local trains: Why monthly pass even for one trip, ask commuters

On WR, 122 ticket checking staff were deployed in the first shift on Monday to guide and regulate crowds and to detect unauthorised passengers. Of the 122, 118 were deployed between Churchgate and Dahanu, including stations and trains, four in AC local trains. A similar number of ticket checking staff were deployed in the second shift too.

On the CR, 341 counters are being operated at 75 stations on the suburban section.

K'taka wants reports from Maha travellers

Karnataka has mandated that passengers coming from Maharashtra should have a negative RT-PCR report not older than 72 hours irrespective of vaccination status. As such, passengers boarding trains from Maharashtra to Karnataka are required to have a negative RT-PCR certificate before boarding.

9.5L
No. of passengers on CR on Sunday

8.5L
No. of passengers on WR on Sunday