Mumbai local trains open for fully vaccinated passengers: Check SOPs here

Ahead of its resumption of services of local trains, the state government on Thursday launched an online facility to enable citizens who have taken their second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine a fortnight ago to obtain passes to travel in suburban trains.

Mumbai local train services resumed for people who have taken both the doses of Covid-19 vaccine from Sunday, after a gap of four months. Passengers were restricted from commuting in local trains in the first week of April after the second wave of coronavirus pandemic. Local train services resumed on February 1 this year, after nearly a year of the network remaining off-limits for people beginning March 2020 amid the first wave of the pandemic.

Local train services resumed on February 1 this year, after nearly a year of the network remaining off-limits for people beginning March 2020 amid the first wave of the pandemic. (HT Photo)

Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said on August 8 said that in order to continue the economic cycle, the state government is imposing certain criteria and restrictions to allow ordinary passengers to travel locally. “Passengers who are fully vaccinated will be able to travel by local from August 15,” Thackeray added.

Ahead of its resumption of services of local trains, the state government on Thursday launched an online facility to enable citizens who have taken their second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine a fortnight ago to obtain passes to travel in suburban trains.

Here are the SOPs issued for travelling in Mumbai local trains:

1. Passengers who have smartphones can download the train pass through a mobile application. "Passengers who do not have a smartphone can take photo passes from municipal ward offices in the city as well as suburban railway stations. These passes are for local travel which will have QR codes so that the railway administration can verify their authenticity. I urge you not to allow anyone to obtain passes illegally. Get fully vaccinated and travel," Thackeray said.

2. Universal passes with Quick Response (QR) code are being made available to the commuters through both offline and online systems. The offline system of verification of vaccination certificates and issuing passes was started outside railway stations by municipal bodies and now the commuters could also get their certificates verified and obtain e-passes online by logging on to http://epassmsdma.mahait.org/.

3. Special squad teams consisting of ticket checking staff and Railway Protection Force (RPF) have been deployed for inspection of vaccination certificates and railway passes both by the Central Railway and the Western Railway. Ticket checking inspectors have also been deployed inside local train compartments.