Mumbai trains for all: 9.7 million travelled in 3 days; citizens want timings tweaked

Nearly 9

Nearly 9.7 million passengers travelled by local trains in the three days since services resumed for the general public. Nearly 3.3 million passengers travelled by local train on Wednesday – 2 million on the Central Railway (CR) and 1.3 million on the Western Railway (WR).

Indian commuters crowd CSMT in Mumbai on February 1, 2021 after trains were allowed to resume for public. (AP)

On Tuesday, nearly 3.2 million passengers commuted, and on Monday nearly 3.4 million passengers used the local train services.

Before the Covid-19 induced lockdown last year, 8 million passengers travelled daily by local train services on the CR and WR lines. Services were suspended on March 23, 2020.

Suburban train services began for the general public on Monday, with passengers being allowed to commute during restricted timings. Commuters can travel from the first local train till 7am, between 12pm and 4pm, and post 9pm.

Rail passenger associations have stated that time slots for the general public should be increased. “People are travelling responsibly, and no crowding inside local train compartments is visible. For passengers staying beyond Thane and Borivli, the commuting time is not sufficient. We ask the state government to revise the timings to 11am to 5pm (instead of 12pm to 4pm), post 8pm and from the first train service to 8am,” said Subhash Gupta, president, Rail Yatri Parishad.

Wearing face masks at railway stations and on trains has been made mandatory by the state government, with a fine of ₹200 imposed on those found flouting the rule.

On Wednesday, 226 passengers on the WR line were fined a total of ₹45,200 for not wearing masks. On the CR line, 187 passengers without masks were fined a total of ₹37,400.