Mumbai: Local trains resume, social distancing forgotten

Trains became crowded towards the evening as news of the resumption spread

Mumbai-s lifeline, local trains resumed on Monday after an 84-day COVID-19-caused break amid drama and confusion. There was confusion on the ground about who exactly is an essential worker. While passengers were being checked and scanned at stations, commuters complained that people got on to the trains from the tracks.

Passengers were able to get on to trains from the tracks owing to porous borders along the tracks.

As a formal announcement on their resumption came late on Sunday night, many were unaware and coaches were empty in the morning. But as the day progressed, crowds increased, with people having to stand inside coaches on the Central Railway.

A local train arrives at Kandivli station on Monday. Pic/Satej Shinde

As of Monday, the railway has allowed journeys only if passengers have a valid identity card issued by municipal corporations suburban areas, Mumbai police, BEST, Mantralaya and all government and private hospitals. The state government is yet to release a proper list of which employees are allowed.

Crowds on CR
"While returning from work, all social distancing on Central Railway CR went for a toss. Three people sat on one seat and a few were even standing. The government is taking the initiative but people need to have basic civic sense," said Deepak Dubey, a project manager with Health Management Information System. "The stations have been managed very well with single entry/exit and no crowds, but distancing in trains is a matter of concern," he said.

Member of the National Railway Users- Consultative Committee, the official passenger representation body of the Indian Railways, Subhash Gupta said he travelled in the train from Kurla to Mankhurd and found people boarding trains from the tracks on the other side of the platform on the Harbour Line.

There was over whether bank employees were allowed on trains and with no clarity, guards and ticket checkers at some stations allowed bankers. "At Bhayandar for example, police said only nationalised bank staffers were allowed and sent back co-operative bank employees. At Churchgate, a ticket checker objected to a passenger having arrived in an Andheri local although he had been cleared by the RPF for travel at Andheri," Ranjan Kamath, a banker said.

What Railway board says
Railway Board Chairman Vinod Kumar Yadav said on Monday that they received a formal request on Sunday from the Maharashtra government about restarting local trains and they promptly cleared it. "As of now, all essential workers were being allowed inside trains after checking their ID cards, but in a week-s time, the state government will distribute QR codes to all eligible staff," he said.

Of the 56 ticket windows open at 20 stations on Western Railway, WR, 3,251 single-journey tickets were sold and 1,496 season tickets were freshly issued with 190 pass extensions in the morning shift. On CR, till 3 pm, on the 41 ticket windows open, 7,592 tickets were sold. A railway spokesperson said that around 1,000 security staff, 550 ticket examiners, 250 booking clerks were deployed on Monday and that they will plug all loopholes on CR.

In all, 60,000 people- - 30,000 on CR and 30,000 on WR - travelled in local trains on Monday.

Season tickets extended
Railways have decided to extend the validity of season tickets by the number of days lost.

Officials said that due to the lockdown, season ticket holders lost a number of days. The same shall be permitted at UTS counters at stations for those allowed to travel by the state government. UTS counters may also issue fresh tickets/season tickets to those eligible.

The first motormen
On WR, the first local train which departed from Churchgate at 5.30 am for Virar was run by motorman Vilas Pawar, while the first train that departed from Virar at 5.30 am for Churchgate was manned by motorman Ashok Tiwari. The first train to depart from Virar at 5 am for Dahanu Road was manned by motorman Mahesh Bukka along with motorman S K Mourya.

On CR, Jaison P T was the first motorman, who operated the 4.03 am train from Panvel that arrived at Mumbai CSMT at 5:29 am.

60
No. in thousands of commuters on train on Monday

Voices

Rushikesh Chavan, BMC employee
-Buses would carry limited passengers, there were long queues. A one-hour journey would take
three hours. With trains back, this will now be easy-

Sheela Singh, nurse at a govt hospital
-We are happy. We worked for almost 24 hours due to commuting issues and now this problem looks resolved-

Vilas Shankar Dhavtare, posted at the office of deputy collector encroachment
-I travelled from Kalyan to Mulund. It is good that trains have begun again. I am able to save money and time as travelling by bus would take three hours-

Rohini Ravindra Khade, BMC employee travelling from Mulund to Matunga
-I went to the highway first to board a bus, but as usual, there was too much crowd. Then someone told me trains had begun so I came to the station. You cannot imagine how happy I am-

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