Mumbai: Local trains may start but only for essentials

The government held a meeting to work out a basic plan to detail how trains could be re-started with basic services allowing only essential workers. Pic/Nimesh Dave

Mumbai-s lifeline, the local trains,will begin only for essential workers affiliated to the government in a day or two. While the ground railway staff has been kept in readiness for Monday morning, till 9.30pm on Sunday, there was no confirmation and approval from the government as marathon meetings to discuss out the nitty-gritties of the run were being ironed out.

"This is a huge exercise and both the railways, the BMC, the state government and the Centre are involved to work out minutest details. A basic protocol of how it will work has been prepared and ground staff alerted, but no date has been finalised yet. As of now there are no instructions to run local trains," a senior official said.

Meanwhile, as talks of the revival of suburban train services gather speed, mid-day looks at various options and suggestions that officials are working on, and proposals worked out by NGOs and individuals to re-start the lifeline of Mumbai.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has been insisting that the Ministry of Railways revive local train services. Internal meetings, even one on Sunday evening, worked out a basic plan to detail how could this be implemented with basic services allowing only essential workers. The employees will be given QR code-based ID cards which will also bear colour coding to enable swifter ticket checking. Railways and state government will ensure checks so only essential workers board these trains.

Reducing crowds
To ensure adequate social distancing, only half the coach-s capacity will be allowed. The Maharashtra government has also agreed to stagger timings to limit crowds. Railway Protection Force RPF along with ticketing staff are expected to be deployed at entry points of stations to ensure only authorised people enter the premises.

Activists and transport experts have also worked out plans and sent them to the CM-s office. City transport activist Gaurang Dinesh Damani had submitted a plan to Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal and CM Thackeray. Damani suggested IRCTC develop a mobile app, as it will eliminate the need for interaction between different government departments. Plus, IRCTC-s out-station reservation protocols like -End-to-end- and -Road-side- quota can be easily applied for suburban rail bookings. So for example, if passenger A travels from Kalyan to Kurla, the same seat can be allocated to passenger B who wants to travel from Kurla to CSMT. Except those working in the HQ, government employees could be temporarily transferred to work near their residences. This will reduce some crowding.

Limited passengers
Another city-based software engineer, Prathamesh More, also worked out a plan and sent it to the CM-s Office. It was based on the principle of -One Seat, One Booking,- where a passenger will book a seat on a specific local train to travel to his/her destination. "The system will allow limited passengers to board a particular train, aiming to maintain social distancing. If that train has already reached its capacity, the passenger will be allotted a ticket for next train. Tickets will also contain coach location," More said.

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