WR restarts monthly season tickets for unreserved trains

Photo for representational purpose

In view of Western Railway (WR) restoring monthly season tickets (MST) for a few inter-city unreserved trains along the Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot stretch, commuters have demanded that a similar move was needed for trains on the Mumbai-Pune and Nashik routes. However, Central Railway (CR) officials said that they might not be able to implement it immediately in view of the existing restrictions in the state, but could surely take up the issue with the government.

WR has decided to issue MST for some unreserved trains in the non-suburban section with effect from September 15. The facility will be available for a total of 58 train services - 14 on the Ahmedabad division, 12 each on the Vadodara and Bhavnagar division, eight each on the Mumbai Central and Ratlam division and four on the Rajkot division.

Chief Public Relations officer, WR, Sumit Thakur said that MST passengers would be permitted to travel only in the above-mentioned trains and if any of them was found travelling in non-specified trains, they would be treated as passengers without tickets and shall be charged accordingly as per the existing rule. Also, no separate earmarking of coaches for MST holders would be done in order to avoid over-crowding in particular coaches.

Seeking a similar move on the Pune and Nashik routes, a commuter from Pune, Nitesh Bapat said, "There are so many who still travel between Mumbai-Pune and Nashik and so we appeal to CR to implement the pass system on this section too. It will solve the commuting issues of a lot of passengers."

Another commuter, Ashish Vishwakarma said that the railways should revive regular trains. "The less the number of train services, the more the crowd. One cannot deny that people are travelling daily and COVID-19 protocols are only on paper. The railways should take practical decisions," he added.

Meanwhile, a CR spokesperson said that unlike WR's inter-city trains along the stretches of Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot, which technically come under Gujarat, the CR's townships all fall under Maharashtra, where COVID-19 restrictions were still in place.

"We have been working cordially with the state government to minimise passenger inconvenience and as of now no fresh guidelines have been issued. The railways will resume all possible services as and when permitted by the state authorities," he added.