It was a return to the familiar after about four months for thousands in Mumbai as local trains opened their doors to fully vaccinated people, 14 days after their second jab, on August 15. And Monday was the first working day for many of them after a long while when they could board the city’s lifeline and traverse through the financial capital and its suburbs. About 1.2 lakh people have come forward to get documents verified for travel passes between August 11 and 16, officials say.
“I’ve just moved here from Chennai after getting a job,” said a passenger at the Andheri station. “It’s a good thing the government has done to allow people like us from essential services and normal citizens to travel by trains.”
Another passenger at the station said, “I came here last year for my son’s treatment from Rajasthan. At that time, we were not allowed to travel on local trains. I used to spend a lot of money on taxis and it would take a lot of time as well. Now I’m relieved that I can use the trains.”
Both the Central and Western Railways have made 95 per cent of their suburban train services operational from August 16. While the Central Railways has added 74 new services to its existing 1,686 suburban ones, the Western Line has 99 more apart from the existing 1,201, to avoid overcrowding due to the fresh influx of passengers. Special squads comprising ticket-checking staff and Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel for the inspection of Covid vaccination certificates and rail passes have been deployed on both lines. Trains will also see more ticket-checking inspectors inside compartments. About 20 lakh residents of Mumbai have been fully vaccinated, including a large number of senior citizens, who will benefit from the government’s decision to resume local train services.
“It used to take me three hours by bus to reach Andheri. Now that I have got my documents verified, I can get a train pass and reach in 45 minutes,” said a senior citizen at the Andheri station.
Apart from the offline verification helpdesks across several suburban stations, the Maharashtra government has also launched an online facility to help those who have a fortnight-old second dose vaccine certificate to obtain passes for suburban trains. For now, only fully vaccinated passengers will be allowed to travel by local trains. However, commuters’ associations have demanded that even those administered a single dose should be let in.
“It’s good that I can take the train,” said a female commuter at the CST station. “I’m so happy. I use it to visit my family that stays in Dombivali.”
The arterial train service was only open to essential service workers before Sunday. Regular operations were shut down in April during the rampaging second wave of the pandemic.
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