Maharashtra opens up Mumbai local trains for public from February 1 — divides service into three time slots

• Maharashtra is allowing the public to use Mumbai's local trains starting February 1.
• Three times slots have been allocated during which the local trains will be allowed to run.
• Between the allotted time slots, only those providing essential services — which includes frontline workers and healthcare staff — single women travellers and those with a special pass from the state government will be allowed to travel.

After nearly a year of being shut down, the Maharashtra government has agreed to open up Mumbai local trains to the public starting February 1.

However, the trains will not run around the clock. The government has fixed three time slots for when the trains will be allowed to run, according to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s office.

Time slots:

• First train till 7:00 am

• 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm

• 9:00 pm to last train of the day
  

Even though the trains will be running again and will be open to the public, it won’t be for everyone.

Between the allotted time slots, only those providing essential services — which includes frontline workers and healthcare staff — single women travellers and those with a special pass from the state government will be allowed to travel.

Prior to this, since October, the trains had only been allowed to cater to women travellers.

Even though the Maharashtra government is expanding the pool of people who will now be allowed to travel in Mumbai’s local trains, they have advised the public to not become lax when it comes to precaution.

Everyone has been advised to take precautionary measures like wearing mask, maintain social distance and clean their hands before and after being on the trains to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

While this is a reasonable ask, it’s a tall order for the local trains that had people stuffed together in compartments during the pre-COVID era.

Nonetheless, the authorities have also advised that travellers should follow the same precautionary measures not only within the trains but also while on the railway platforms.

Railway officials also told PTI that an extra 204 special local services would be run on the Mumbai suburban network to balance demand and maintain social distancing.

Maharashtra, the state most affected by COVID-19, has brought its tally of active cases to around 44,000. The state has recorded over 20 lakh cases since the pandemic began in December 2019.