Western Railway announced on Sunday (June 14) that some local trains will resume operations in Mumbai from Monday (June 15) only for those engaged in essential services amid the coronavirus COVOD-19 pandemic. Western Railway tweeted that general passengers will not be allowed to board these trains and people should not crowd at stations.
“Western Railway have decided to resume their selected suburban services over WR w.e.f. Monday, 15th June, 2020 with defined protocol & SOP, only for movement of essential staff as identified by the State Government,” the railways tweeted.
The trains will run from 5:30 am to 11:30 pm with an interval of 15 minutes. “Maximum services will run between Churchgate and Virar, but few will also run up to Dahanu Road,” the railways said.
The Western Railway (WR) announced that it will run 73 pairs of suburban services including eight pairs between Virar and Dahanu Road.Maximum services will run between Churchgate and Virar, but few will also run upto Dahanu Road. These services will run as fast local train between CCG and Borivali, and will run as slow beyond Borivali.
The Central Railway (CR) is likely to operate nearly 200 train services and WR will operate 120 services for essential employees daily. From CSMT to Kasara, Karjat, Kalyan, Thane at least 130 services and from CSMT to Panvel 70 services. The halts will be at major stations only, as that of fast locals. The arrival and departure train timings arriving at CSMT will be at — 7 hrs, 9 hrs, 10 hrs, 15 hrs, 21 hrs, 23 hrs; departing from CSMT will be at — 7 hrs, 9hrs, 15 hrs, 18 hrs, 21 hrs, 23 hrs.
It is expected that approximately 1.25 lakh essential staff, including 50,000 on Western Railway are expected to travel by these trains. These special suburban services will not be for general passengers/public and will be strictly for essential staff only.
The travelling authority will be applicable as per normal procedure over WR and CR and certain booking windows will be opened for the same, on which respective staff will be facilitated on showing their government issued ID cards.
It has been decided to extend the validity of the season ticket to the extent of days lost. The same shall be permitted at the UTS counters at the stations to those permitted by the State Government. UTS counters may also issue fresh tickets/season tickets to persons permitted by State Government of Maharashtra.
Entry will be given at stations strictly through ID cards of essential staff as identified by the State Government. Later on, the staff will be issued QR based E-passes which will also bear colour coding to enable swifter ticket checking. State Government will ensure the same.
Railways as well as the state government will ensure multiple rounds of checking to ensure only essential staff as identified by the State Government, should board these trains.
The state government has been urged to ensure all those allowed to travel, are done so after ensuring that they are medically fit and do not come from containment zone. To allow adequate social distancing in the coaches, unlike its seating capacity to accommodate about 1,200 persons, only about 700 are to be allowed per train.
