Passenger numbers on local trains have seen a decline over the past few days in the wake of the fresh coronavirus wave. This can be attributed to more people working from home and the restrictions on general movement in high-risk areas.
Railway officials in Mumbai said that the daily passenger count on Central and Western Railway lines has fallen to around 20 lakh per day which is roughly half the commuters witnessed as of last week.
It’s worth noting that passenger figures are nowhere close to the pre-pandemic days when around 80 lakh passengers were taking suburban trains daily.
A railway official said that Central Railway’s daily passenger figures were at 9 lakh while Western Railway is witnessing just over 11 lakh daily commuters as of Saturday, 17 April.
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As per a Central Railway spokesperson, its trains witnessed 17.7 lakh commuters on April 15, while the number fell to 13.5 lakh and 9.3 lakh on April 16 and April 17, respectively.
A Western Railway spokesperson added that a total of 11.3 lakh people used its trains on Saturday, with an income of ₹35.02 lakh generated via 97,905 daily tickets issued.
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Mumbai’s local trains are currently running at 95 per cent capacity with no restrictions or curbs in place. Central and Western Railway lines operate 1,686 and 1,300 daily services.
Railway officials said that any new directives or guidelines issued by the authorities will be followed extensively to tackle the pandemic.
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