Mumbai Local Trains Will Be Opened For All Citizens From This Date: Lifeline Of Mumbai Is Back!

If you are a Mumbaikar! Then perhaps nothing else you read today is going to smile ear to ear like this news. Every Indian who has travelled or been to Mumbai and travelled to this city knows it pulse – Local train.  Local is a symbolic of struggle, survival and most importantly speed. In more ways than one Mumbai local trains reflect the spirit of the city.

Every Mumbaikar will agree to how Mumbai local trains form an integral part of their lives. Most people prefer the crowded trains to the heavy traffic on the roads. Though traveling by the local trains can be hectic, everyone will agree that its an experience in itself. In fact, many would say that, one cannot claim to be a Mumbaikar until they have travelled by the local trains.

Never has the engine of local come to a halt, but due to the unprecedented pandemic, it had to. And when local stops, the city literally and figuratively comes to a standstill. However recently there are some developments about allowing the populace to

Opening the trains to “commoners”:-

Mumbai Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal on Thursday said that Indian Railways are deciding about allowing the general public to travel by suburban local trains in Mumbai. He said that the number of new COVID-19 patients in the financial capital is decreasing day by day, adding that the number of asymptomatic new patients of novel coronavirus is high now. Chahal further added that once the Christmas and New Year celebrations are over, a decision about permitting common people to travel on Mumbai’s suburban locals will be taken.

At present, only certain categories of people including the ones working for essential services are permitted to travel by local trains in Mumbai’s suburban network. Many people in Mumbai are not wearing face masks even during this ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and this is of prime concern to the commissioner and he warned that if the administration shall impose a night curfew if the people did not follow safety protocol for novel coronavirus

Other developments and protocols to be followed:-

Recently, the national transporter allowed lawyers practicing in courts and registered clerks of advocates to travel in special local trains.

On 26 October 2020, Indian Railways had allowed lawyers to travel in Mumbai’s local train services, which are being operated on the city’s suburban routes only for staff of essential services till 23 November 2020. A recent joint press release by Central Railways and Western Railways mentioned that the permission given to them has now been extended.

Although those who are permitted are requested to follow social and medical protocols as mandated for the pandemic in order to travel by local trains in Mumbai.  Meanwhile, others have been requested not to rush to stations, to prevent the COVID-19 infection from spreading.