Mumbai locals open for general public from today; timings restricted

Commuters can now allowed travel in the following time slots: from the first train service to 7 am; between 12 pm and 4 pm; and from 9 pm to the last service of the day

After nearly 10 months, Mumbai’s suburban train services have been opened for general public with some.restrictions from today.

Heavy crowd as people catch a local train at Dadar in Mumbai on February 1. (Pratik Chorge/Hindustan Times)

Commuters can now allowed travel in the following time slots: from the first train service to 7 am; between 12 pm and 4 pm; and from 9 pm to the last service of the day.

They also have to mandatorily wear face masks while travelling and those found without them will be fined ₹200 by the Government Railway Police. In order to control crowds and provide easy access to passengers, the Central and the Western Railway have deployed Railway Protection Force personnel and its commercial department staff at the entrance and exit of the railway stations as well as on the railway platforms.

Passengers who could not use their railway monthly season passes due to the lockdown will also be able to extend their validity.

“Railways has made provision of extending the validity of season ticket to the number of days lost due to the lockdown by re-validating the season railway ticket.” said Sumit Thakur, chief public relation officer, Western Railway.

Passengers can also book railway tickets through the Unreserved Ticketing System mobile application.

Local train services for the general public were suspended on March 23,2020, due to the spread of coronavirus in the city. Later, services were resumed for employees working in essential care on July 15. Cancer patients, specially abled commuters, women and lawyers were also allowed to travel by the local trains.