Indian Railways all set to run 753 more suburban train services from Monday

Mumbai, Nov 02: In a bid to reduce crowding in local trains in Mumbai, railway authorities added as many as 753 new special services from Monday, taking the total number of services on the suburban network to 2,773. With this, it can be seen that the railway authorities have resumed 88 per cent of the total 3,141 suburban services which were being operated before the outbreak of COVID-19.

Before the nation-wide lockdown, the Central Railway (CR) used to operate 1,772 services, while the Western Railway (WR) ran 1,367 services on the suburban network. The local trains, considered, as the lifeline of Mumbai, were resumed for the emergency and essential services staff in June this year.

According to a joint press release issued by the CR and WR on Sunday, the Central Railway has now added 552 more services on its routes, while the Western Railway has added 201 services. With this, the special suburban services on the CR routes have increased to 1,572 from the earlier 1,020, while the WR services have gone up to 1,201 from 1,000.

The railway authorities have also given inputs to the Maharashtra government as asked by it, the release said. "The Railways is hoping that the state government will revert soon deciding the modalities for providing services to commuters in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region," it said.

Earlier, the CR and WR resumed the suburban services for emergency and essential services staff from June 15, and gradually allowed passengers from some other categories, like lawyers and staff of foreign consulates, to also travel in local trains. Currently, the special suburban services are not available for the general public, though women are permitted to travel in the local trains during non-peak hours.