Indian Railways green signals resumption of local trains for all from February 1

For those Mumbaikars who haven’t travelled by train since the railways was brought to a halt during the lockdown, here is a piece of good news. Now from February 1, 2021, you will be able to travel by local trains and go places after the Indian Railways decided to give a go ahead for the resumption of Mumbai local train services.

Due to the novel Coronavirus outbreak, suburban train services have been off bounds for the general public since the month of March last year. The local train services were resumed in the month of June for the essential services workers.

According to a PTI report, for the local train services’ resumption for the general public with COVID-19 precautions, approval was given by the Maharashtra government on Friday. An Indian Railways official was quoted in the report saying that the state government’s proposal has been conveyed to the competent authorities. Thus, a formal announcement on the resumption of Mumbai local train services for the general public is expected soon, he said.

Sanjay Kumar, State Chief Secretary has asked the Chief General Managers of Central Railway and Western Railway zones to permit local train passengers to travel as per the laid down schedule. Due to the novel Coronavirus outbreak, suburban train services have been off bounds for the general public since the month of March last year. The local train services were resumed in the month of June for the essential services workers, the report said.

From today, (29 January 2021), the Indian Railways started the operations of additional 204 local train services to the existing 2781 suburban train services in Mumbai making it a total of 2,985 local train services on the city’s suburban rail network. With the restarting of additional local trains, around 95 per cent of the total suburban train services are being restored.

According to the national transporter, only those permitted by the Railway Ministry and the Maharashtra government have been allowed to travel by these local trains.