The Western and Central Railway zones have decided to increase the number of suburban local train services in Mumbai from today. Western Railway will run 1,300 suburban services in Mumbai suburban section from today, Central Railway will run 1,686 services in its Mumbai division.
Western Railway was earlier running 1,201 services till yesterday. However, today with the addition of 99 more train services, the number has gone up to 1300. Before the COVID-19 lockdown, Western Railway used to provide 1367 services.
Central Railway was running 1612 services before the hike today. Today, after an increase of 74 services, the number of suburban services has increased to 1686. The Central Railway used to run 1774 services before being hit by COVID-19.
The decision to extend the Mumbai local train service was taken in view of those who have taken both the doses of the Kovid vaccine till August 15 after a long wait of four months.
Passengers were banned from traveling in local trains from the first week following the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the city. Although BMC had done offline COVID-19 vaccine verification and provided monthly pass facility at 53 railway stations,
BMC commissioner Iqbal Singh had said that monthly railway passes will be available at 53 railway stations from August 11 to facilitate citizens to travel in local trains, which can only be purchased by fully immunized passengers. You can buy monthly railway passes daily between 7 am and 11 pm.
The suburban rail network is essentially considered the lifeline of Mumbai. The network used to transport 7 million people every day before the pandemic hit.
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