Fully vaccinated citizens get on board Mumbai local trains

Local trains in Mumbai will resume operations for the fully vaccinated citizens today (Sunday) after a gap of four months

Local trains in Mumbai will resume operations for the fully vaccinated citizens today (Sunday) after a gap of four months. On April 15 this year, the local train services were closed for the general public for the second time amid the pandemic, owing to an increase in Covid-19 cases in the city.

Passengers who have taken two doses of Covid-19 vaccine, show their certificates as they are allowed to travel by local train, at Dadar Railway Station. (PTI)

Apart from fully vaccinated passengers who have pre-verified their vaccination status and obtained a monthly travel pass, healthcare workers and essential service employees are allowed to use the trains as usual.

Trains will operate between routine operational hours of the Central and Western Railways.

Railway authorities said they are prepared to handle the extra crowd on trains starting Sunday, especially as the first day of opening up trains for part of the general public also coincides with Independence Day. Random ticket checks will be conducted at all railway stations to ensure only pass holders are using train services.

The municipal corporations in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), had since August 11, set up help desks at all railway stations for offline verification of vaccine status. Such desks were set up by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) at 53 railway stations on the central and western lines. Similarly, helpdesks were set up at 109 stations in the MMR.

A spokesperson from Central railways said on Saturday, “In preparation for trains opening up for fully vaccinated beneficiaries, we have increased the number of ticket counters across stations. Before August 11, we had 300 counters, now we have 340, to avoid crowding at the ticket windows. Railway police have also been deployed, and ticket-checkers will conduct random checks at all stations. For Independence Day, Central Railway has taken additional security measures, a dog squad, and two ninja drone cameras for Mumbai division.”

The Western Railways saw commuter traffic of an average of 150,000 passengers every day during the past four months when trains were not operating for the general public. A spokesperson from the Western Railways said, “On a weekend, we see around 120,000 passengers, and on a weekday it is around 150,000. This is likely to increase by a few thousand passengers as we have issued an average of 10,000 - 12,000 passes a day since August 11.”

On Thursday, the state government also made the verification process online, via a web link, which generates an e-pass that can be showed at ticket counters to avail monthly travel passes.

The process of applying online is as follows: Eligible citizens need to open the link: http://epassmsdma.mahait.org, click on the option travel pass for vaccinated citizens, mention their mobile number, which will generate a one time password via an SMS. After entering the OTP, other details such as the beneficiary name and reference number for vaccination status will automatically appear on the form. Citizens have to click on generate e-pass, upload a photograph that can be clicked using the phone camera. Within 48 hours, applicants will receive a link on their number, after which they can download the e-pass and save it in their mobile gallery.

Applicants who have taken their second dose, but have not completed 14 days, will receive this link to download the e-pass only after 14 days are completed.

So far, a total of 91,925 passes have been issued by the Central and Western Railways to fully vaccinated beneficiaries who have also completed 14 days after their second dose. On Wednesday, 34,353 suburban railway monthly passes were issued to passengers. Central Railway has issued 22,689 monthly passes, while the Western Railway issued 11,664 railway passes. On Thursday, 32,534 monthly passes were issued to the suburban railway passengers on both the Central and Western Railway networks. Of the 32,534 passes, 22,104 were issued on the Central Railway and 10,430 were issued on the Western Railway. On Friday, a total of 25,038 passes were issued, of which 17,765 monthly passes were issued by Central Railway and 7,873 passes were issued by Western Railway.