Mumbai local trains: More services on western, central lines from today to ease passenger commute

Mumbai’s suburban railway network will see more trains play on destinations in the Mumbai Metropolitan Area on Monday. Mumbai local trains, dubbed the lifeline of the city, began services after a four-month hiatus on Sunday with limited trains on account of a holiday.

The Western Railway will run 1300 suburban services on Mumbai suburban zone. Currently, it runs 1201 services on the suburban network of the Mumbai division. With the addition of 99 more services, the number will reach almost 95% of 1,367 trains run  in the pre-Covid era.

Central Railway will also run 1686 suburban services in the Mumbai division from Monday, up from 1,612 being run presently. It ran 1774 in the Mumbai division in the pre-Covid times.

Mumbai suburban train services began on Sunday for the first time since April when it was closed for passengers owing o the devastating second wave of the pandemic that swept Maharashtra along with several other Indian states. Eligible commuters were able to board select Mumbai local trains on the occasion of Independence Day —a national holiday—due to which ridership numbers remained thin. Maharashtra government had launched the ‘Universal Travel Pass’ or e-pass facility for passengers.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had also started an offline verification process for fully-vaccinated people to issue monthly passes at 53 railway stations.

"Citizens who have completed 14 days after receiving the second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine can go to the nearest railway station with a hard copy of the Final Vaccination Certificate (second dose) along with proof of photo identity. Citizens should note that if they do not have both or even one of these documents, they will be denied entry by the railway administration at the railway station," the BMC notice read.

As many as 120,000 such monthly passes have been issued by the BMC since August 11.