Mumbai locals were on a halt since 23rd March. However, now on 15th June after a little less than 3 Months, Mumbai locals are back on the track. Amid Pandemic, there are a lot of guidelines for those who will be traveling in the suburban trains. Trains are back of mainline as well as harbor line today!
Announcing it on Twitter, Western Railway did a series of tweets about the commencement of Mumbai Locals.
Kind Attention :- 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. pic.twitter.com/KlZeGJEq2t
— Western Railway (@WesternRly) June 14, 2020
Guidelines for Traveling in Mumbai Locals
The Mumbai Locals will be operating between 5:30 am to 11:30 pm. Because of traffic, maximum operations will be in between Churchgate and Virar. However, there are many services to Dahanu Road also. It is noteworthy, that every service will be available at an interval of 15 minutes.
There are also a total of 200 (100 upwards & 100 downwards) EMU train services on the Central railway. Out of the 130 services (65 up and 65 down) will run from CST Mumbai till Kasara, Karjat, Kalya, and Thane. However, the passenger limit is 700 per train than it’s seating capacity of 1200.
Yesterday, in our article Suburban Trains Likely to Resume in Mumbai This Week! we already stated that these operations will be for essential staff workers only. It is expected that around 1.25 lakh essential service workers will be availing the services of Mumbai Locals.
Therefore, it is quite clear that the services of Mumbai Suburban trains are beyond the reach of the general public right now. Besides that, safety and medical protocols are also high for travelers. Railways also opened ticket counters for the travelers, from where they can purchase their tickets.
Selected suburban services resumed today mrng, over Western & Central Railway for essential staff of State Government only. All Booking Offices Opened at all stopping stations. These special suburban services will not be available for general passengers/public. pic.twitter.com/UMmC83rLIi
— Western Railway (@WesternRly) June 15, 2020
There are ‘No Hawker’ and ‘No Parking’ zone around 150 meters of railway stations. It is a very courageous decision for the relief of essential service workers. We hope that this service wouldn’t add up to the COVID19 cases in Mumbai.