204 more local train services in Mumbai from Jan 29

    Mumbai, Jan 27 (PTI) An additional 204 special local
train services will be run on the Mumbai suburban network from
Friday, railway officials here said.
    With this, the total number of services, currently
available only for select sections of commuters, on the
suburban network will go up to 2,985, the Central Railway and
the Western Railway said in a joint statement on Tuesday.
    The addition of 204 suburban services will lead to
resumption of about 95 per cent of the total 3,141 local train
services, which were being operated collectively by the CR and
WR before the COVID-19 outbreak, railway officials said.
    The decision to increase the local train services
comes after Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday said a
decision on allowing all commuters to board suburban train
services in Mumbai will be taken "soon".
    Thackeray held a review meeting on Monday on the issue
of resumption of suburban train services, considered as the
lifeline of Mumbai, for all members of the public.
    Currently, only some categories of commuters, like
women and those providing essential services, can travel by
local trains in the Mumbai region after obtaining a special
pass, in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
    The suburban train services were suspended in March-
end last year due to the coronavirus outbreak and gradually
resumed from June.
    "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.
    Before issuing the joint statement, the WR announced
that it would resume 100 per cent suburban services on its
network, but later withdrew the decision.
    In the joint statement, the railway authorities also
appealed to travellers to follow the standard operating
procedures related to COVID-19 prevention while travelling in
the local trains.
    They also clarified that only passengers permitted by
the Ministry of Railways and the Maharashtra government
allowed to travel in the suburban trains.
    "Others are requested not to rush to the railway
stations," the release said.
    During normal times before the lockdown, the Central
Railway used to operate 1,774 services, while the Western
Railway ran 1,367 services on the suburban network.
    The CR and WR resumed the suburban services for
emergency and essential services staff on June 15 last year.
    Gradually, passengers from some other categories, like
lawyers and staff of foreign consulates, were also allowed to
travel in the local trains.
    In October last year, the state government proposed to
the railway authorities to allow the general public to board
the local trains at stipulated timings during non-peak hours.
    But, the plan was put on the back-burner as COVID-19
cases rose in some places after the Diwali festival. PTI KK
GK GK

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)