Mumbai Local Update: In a huge relief for the daily passengers of Mumbaia and suburbs, Mumbai local trains will be resuming in staggered manner for all commuters from February 1. State government has written to Railways to make following arrangements: Trains will be open to the public from the first service till 7 am, from 12 pm to 4 pm and from 9 pm to the last train of the day. This means , public common commuters will not be able to travel between 7am to 12 am in the morning and 4pm to 9pm in the evening.
All passengers are allowed to travel locally at scheduled times.
"We have received the letter and same has been processed for getting approval of competent authority," Chief Public Relation Officers (CPRO), Central Railway was quoted as saying by ANI.
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However, all commuters have been advised to adhere to all norms, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) related to Covid-19 during the boarding, travel and at the destination.
This comes as a major decision by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray after a review meeting with railway and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials.
So far only certain categories of commuters, including those providing essential services and women, could travel by local because of the pandemic. In a major 'Unlock' initiative in October, the state government had allowed all the women to commute by local trains at certain hours starting from October 17.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra government has extended the lockdown in the state by another month till February 28. In an order related to the lockdown, it wa stated that all the activities already allowed and permitted from time to time shall be continued and all earlier orders shall be aligned with this order and shall remain in force up to February 28.
In March when the Covid-19 pandemic broke out in India, and Maharashtra was the worst hit of all states, it was for the first time in 46 years, the sprawling Indian Railway network, including Mumbai's lifeline, the suburban trains which ferry around 8.5 million commuters daily, was completely shutdown to avoid the transmission of coronavirus.