06 January,2021 09:31 AM IST | Mumbai | Dharmendra Jore
A file picture of passengers of WR at Dadar station. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi
The railways on Tuesday said they have not received any formal proposal from the Maharashtra government, on throwing open local trains for the general public, with or without any timeframes.
"Mumbaikars are requested not to believe in rumours of any kind and co-operate with the railways and not crowd railway stations. Any decision, if made officially, will be made public and we appeal to citizens not to believe in speculations," a railway spokesperson said.
A few officials from the state government had told a section of the media that the state government was considering throwing open local trains for the general public between 10pm and 7am to benefit those working in the second and night shifts. "This may be part of their internal discussions and planning, but no formal proposal has been moved by the state government so far," an official said.
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Due to the pandemic, the final decision to permit access to general public onboard suburban trains remains with the respective state governments, as they have to manage the COVID-19 numbers.
"As of now about 18 categories, as identified by the state government, and all women commuters (between 11 am and 3 pm and after 7 pm), practicing lawyers and registered clerks of lawyers during timings specified, have been allowed to travel on these special local trains, as permitted by the government of Maharashtra," the spokesperson said.
Pre-pandemic, the Western Railway in Mumbai used to run 1,367 suburban trains and Central Railway in Mumbai used to run 1,774 services every day. Services are slowly being brought back to normal level before any decision about throwing them open to everyone is taken, said an official, adding that as of today services have now been restored to over 90 per cent.
As a part of the unanimously decided SOP, maximum 700 passengers can be seated in a 12-car EMU rake as per social distancing norms against 1,200 passengers that could be seated earlier.
