Following mounting pressure to reopen suburban trains, the state government, in all likelihood, could unlock it for more categories next month, especially for those who have taken both the doses of the Covid-19 vaccine.
Though the lockdown has been eased after the second wave, this mode of public transportation continues to operate under curbs. Political parties have set out to milk this opportunity. On Saturday, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) staged a protest and threatened to intensify it in the coming days. Last week, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray also sent a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on the issue. Likewise, railway passenger associations too have come together and planned black band protests.
Sources said that more categories, including teaching staff, media employees and shopkeepers, amongst others, could be added to the list of people allowed to commute in trains. Permitting women to travel during non-peak hours is also expected.
Railway officials claim that, in the meetings held with the state government and BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), discussions were held on allowing fully vaccinated people to travel in locals. “We are ready to accommodate more passengers and so we are operating more than 90 per cent of our fleet. However, the final decision will continue to be in the hands of the state government,” said a senior railway official. At present, both Central Railway (CR) and Western Railway (WR) are recording a footfall of 20 to 22 lakh passengers, which was earlier 80 lakh. They are together operating 3,141 services.
The passenger associations claim that approximately 40 lakh more people would be able to travel in trains if those with two doses are allowed to board them. The restrictions have hurt the revenue of the railways, not only in ticket sales, but also in advertisements and public-private partnership projects.
The state government has put in place a system required to issue universal passes using a QR code to the categories allowed to commute in trains. “The government only needs to add categories to this universal travel pass. People should be asked to feed their data with certificates after getting fully vaccinated,” said Lata Argade, member of railway passenger association.
