Railways to open Mumbai local train services for general public from 1 Feb

After a long hiatus, Mumbai local train services are set to open for the general public from 1 February, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's office announced on Friday, several media reports said.According to a report in NDTV, the train services will be open for the general commuters from the first service of the day till 7 am. Thereafter, they will be allowed to ride trains from 12 pm to 4 pm. Lastly, the general public will be allowed to ride trains after 9 pm till the last service.Every day, from 7 am to 12 pm and 4 pm to 9 pm, the trains will be functional only for essential services staff. The services, however, will remain open throughout the day for single women travellers and those with a special pass from the state government.According to a report in Outlookindia.com, Maharashtra Chief Secretary Sanjay Kumar has asked the Chief General Managers of Western and Central Railway to allow local train commuters to travel as per the laid down schedule. An official announcement is expected soon, the report added.The suburban rail services were halted in the financial capital in March last year following the coronavirus-induced lockdown. The government and the Railways have been resuming services in a phased manner. According to a report in Times Now, the latest announcement comes after officials representing the Maharashtra state government, the Railways, and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) met recently to discuss the start of the local train services. Thackeray had chaired the meeting.The report added that only the announcement of the final date was awaited as the Traffic Control Department of the Mumbai Central Division of Western Railway had sent out a note to all station masters instructing them to run trains on a full schedule.On 27 January, the official Twitter handle of Divisional Railway Manager, Mumbai Division of Western Railway, had urged travellers to abide by the timing prescribed by the authority, clarifying that only those permitted by the state govt and the Ministry of Railways are allowed to travel in the suburban trains. Back in November last year, the railway authorities had resumed 88 percent of the total 3,141 suburban services in Mumbai. Both the Central Railway and Western Railway reportedly resumed full operations from 29 January.