After being halted for about 2 months, the lifeline of Mumbai railways, the Locals trains of Mumbai are all set to resume today (Monday, June 15 2020) for both the main and harbour line. However, the service shall only be limited to passengers recognized as ‘essential staff’ as per the state government’s guidelines.
Around 1.25 lakh commuters of these trains have been identified as a part of essential staff. Apart from these people, the general public or passengers will not be allowed to board the train.
In order to ensure that proper safety measures are undertaken for prevention of the further spread of coronavirus, the authorities have deployed Railway Protection Force (RPF)/ Government Railway Police (GRP) at various stations. Moreover, the standard social distancing norms and prevention protocols will be followed at all the places. Apart from this, various checks will be put up at different stations to ensure that the passengers travelling in these trains all belong to the essential staff category.
The Railways will be running around 73 pairs of suburban services which will include about 8 pairs of train running between Virar and Dahanu Road. As a measure to ensure social distancing while travelling, each of the trains will accommodate only 700 passengers than its regular capacity of 1200 passengers.
The passengers recognized as essential staff will be able to purchase tickets from independent ticket windows at the railway station using any state or municipal identity cards.