Mumbai: Students below 18 will now be allowed on local trains

Parents drop their students off at school on the first day of reopening, on October 4

The state government on Thursday announced that everyone under the age of 18 can now avail various services. The railways, in a circular issued later in the day, stated that as per the government's guidelines, students will be allowed to take locals. "We will go by the directives of the state government," said a railway spokesperson on Thursday. Since schools reopened last week after over a year, there had been a demand for letting children take local trains to schools.

The state government's order states that all services, which have recently resumed or are scheduled to open soon for the fully vaccinated citizens, can be accessed by children aged under 18 years. The new directives take effect immediately. This means that students can now travel to and from their schools via local trains.

"We will go by the directives of the state government. However, only monthly season tickets will be issued as per the existing directives," a railway spokesperson said. Tickets will only be issued at the counters, the railways stated in the circular. Railway officials added that they will check students' Aadhaar and school ID cards to verify their age while allowing them entry to stations.

Students of Shri Vibhuti Narayan High School return home after the first day of classes, at Ashokvan, Dahisar, on October 4. Pic/Satej Shinde

According to the state's order, issued by Maharashtra Chief Secretary Sitaram Kunte, all the services are accessible to children and adolescents until vaccines against COVID-19 become available in the city. "In the future, when a vaccine becomes available for this age group [children under 18 years], then this [access to all services] will continue for 60 days" from the date of vaccine availability, the order stated.

Thereafter, only vaccinated students will be allowed on board the locals. The note reiterated that any person having a medical condition that does not allow him or her to take the vaccine, and has a certificate to that extent from a recognised doctor should be allowed to avail all the services.