No means no: Railways on unlocking Mumbai local trains

Passengers alight from a train at Churchgate. Pic/Bipin Kokate

Even as a delegation of city-based passenger associations, along with BJP leaders, appealed to the governor to unlock local trains on Tuesday morning, the Indian Railways issued a notification stating that the status quo on all trains shall continue and regular passenger trains will remain suspended.

"This is to bring to the notice of all concerned that, as decided and informed earlier on as well, regular passenger and suburban train services will continue to remain suspended till further notice...230 special trains, which are running at present, will continue to operate. Local trains in Mumbai, which are presently being run on limited basis only on the requisition of state government, will also continue to run," a note from the Press Information Bureau stated.

It added that the occupancy of special trains is being monitored on a regular basis and any additional special trains may be run based on requirement.

Essential workers arrive at CSMT. Pic/Ashish Raje

A delegation of the Mumbai Rail Pravasi Sangh presented a petition to Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari. "Mumbai commuters have been orphaned and there is no one to look after them and fight for their rights. Letters and appeals to the Chief Minister's office are not even acknowledged. Hence, we took the appeal to the Governor," Siddhesh Desai, vice-president of the association said.

A delegation of the Mumbai Rail Pravasi Sangh with Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari

QR code system unnecessary
The delegation said that the Maharashtra government was formulating new rules with every unlock and putting the average commuter in utter confusion. "The decision on QR codes was unnecessary as relevant tickets could have been made available at booking offices at stations," said Kailash Verma from the delegation.

Another member of the delegation, Shaila Samant said that the government needs to stop thinking only about its own employees and think of the common man and private sector too. Another point in the petition was to schedule halts at Airoli and Ghansoli stations and run more trains on the main line to go to the distant suburbs to maintain social distancing.

Also Read: Ganesh Chaturthi 2020: 190 Ganpati special trains put on hold

702
No. of WR, CR trains being run for essential services workers

230
No. of special interstate trains currently running

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