The Mumbai suburban train system commenced its services from the 1st of February with restricted timings for all commuters, after almost a halt of 11 months due to the pandemic. With the city resuming its pre-COVID lifestyle, the local trains have been reporting as many as 3.7 million commuters per day. Parallelly, COVID-19 cases have been on a sharp rise in the city and owing to it, the
100 each to be stationed at WR, CR and Harbour Line
As per reports, the civic body will be appointing 300 marshals, 100 each to be stationed at Western Railways (WR), Central Railways (CR) and Harbour line. This authorised task force will assist in enforcing the issued COVID-19 protocols, inclusive of wearing masks, maintaining social distancing, sanitizing amidst other precautionary measures.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Mumbai's mayor was spotted travelling in a local train, to promulgate awareness about COVID-appropriate behaviour among travellers. The mayor was seen requesting food stall operators on stations and passengers to maintain required distance and regularly wash their hands.
According to the remarks of officials, since the 1st till the 14th of February, the Mumbai Division of Railways backed BMC, has fined 4618 train passengers for flouting the issued health norms against the contagious coronavirus. The authorized body has supposedly collected an overall penalty of ₹3,28,500 from passengers without masks while in local trains.
Offices in Mumbai requested to look into their timings
It is being assumed that escalation of ridership in Mumbai locals is a leading cause behind the sudden surge of COVID-19 caseload in the city. In accordance with the latest statistics, the Central line observes over 2 million travellers while the WR services are availed by 1.7 million commuters on a daily basis. The concerned authorities have further appealed to the offices in Mumbai to adopt graded attendance or slots, which will enable easier and safer travel.
