Rise in passengers: 3.5 million take Mumbai local trains this month

Around 2.2 million passengers travel by local trains in Mumbai daily on the Central Railway and 1.3 million passengers on the Western Railway this month

The suburban local train services have witnessed an increase in the number of passengers in September, as compared to August. Nearly 3.5 million passengers are travelling daily by the suburban railway network this month.

Nearly 1.5 million passengers travelled by on local trains on Central Railway and 1.1 million passengers on the Western Railway in August. (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT Photo)

Around 2.2 million passengers travel by local trains daily on the Central Railway and 1.3 million passengers on the Western Railway this month, as opposed to nearly 1.5 million passengers in August on Central Railway and 1.1 million passengers on the Western Railway.

The number of monthly suburban railway passes issued have increased both on the Central and the Western Railway. On average both the zonal railways are issuing nearly 25,000 monthly season passes every day as compared to 20,000 in August.

The Central Railway issued the highest number of monthly season passes on Wednesday; 32,325 railway passes in a day whereas the Western Railway issued the highest number of passes— 17,652 on Wednesday.

Dombivli on the Central Railway and Borivli railway station on the Western Railway have witnessed the maximum number of railway passes issued.

“There has been an increase in the number of passengers travelling by local trains and the number of passengers buying monthly season tickets have also increased. We have deployed extra commercial staff and Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel to inspect and conduct checks on people travelling without tickets.” said a senior Central Railway official.

Suburban passenger associations have stated that there will further be an increase in the number of passengers travelling by local trains in the coming days. “Many citizens have completed their two doses of vaccine and 14 days period and they have started travelling by local trains. The number of passengers will further increase in the coming months as more people will get fully vaccinated,” said Subhash Gupta, president, Rail Yatri Parishad.