Mumbai local trains⁠— who can travel, timings, and all you need to know

• These special suburban services are not for general passengers/public and will be strictly for those engaged in essential services only.
• These trains will be operated between 5:30 am to 11:30 pm, and only certain booking windows will be opened for the same.
• Only passengers who are medically fit and do not come from a containment zone will be allowed to board the trains.

After a gap of over two-and-a-half months, a limited number of suburban trains started zooming in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) from Monday (June 14). Confusion, however, reigns with many passengers, even after the government clarified that the city’s lifeline - are specifically for the employees of the Maharashtra government, who are engaged in essential services.

The government has identified approximately 1.25 lakh employees who are indulged in essential services of state government and are only designated to commute by these special services. However, in normal times, over 85 lakhs passengers commute daily on the suburban networks spanning Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and Raigad.

The Central Railway and the Western Railway have made it clear these special suburban services are not for general passengers/public and will be strictly for those engaged in essential services only. However, the list of essential services doesn’t include bank employees, despite the special status of “essential service provider” granted by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The WR will run 60 pairs of its 12 car suburban services — total 120 — to and fro from Churchgate to Dahanu Road. The CR will run 100 services on either side of its main line — between Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus to Thane, Kalyan, Karjat and Kasara and 70 services on either side of Harbour line — Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and Panvel.

These trains will operate between 5:30 am to 11:30 pm, and only certain booking windows will be opened for the same.

No food and other stalls will be opened at the railway stations, and Railway Protection Force (RPF) will be deployed to monitor adherence of social distancing norms.

To begin with, the railways allowed passengers entry through employee ID cards, however, in the coming days the state employees will be issued QR based E-passes which will also have bar colour coding to enable swifter ticket checking with coordination by the state government.

Only passengers who are medically fit and do not come from a containment zone will be allowed to board the trains, and the state government will ensure multiple rounds of checking to ensure the requirements are being met.

Unlike its seating capacity to accommodate about 1,200 persons, only about 700 commuters shall be allowed per train to allow adequate social distancing in the coaches.

The Railways have also advised the state government to stagger the timings of its offices for workers coming from different areas to ensure there is no crowding at the stations and inside the trains.

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