With the pandemic hitting the world at large, the lockdown imposed due to the coronavirus has cost the Western and Central Suburban Railways ₹1,020 crores in passenger revenue.
According to sources, in the last eight months, only ₹52 crores has been deposited in the coffers of these two departments. Due to the outbreak of the coronavirus, suburban train services on Central and Western Railways were suspended since March 22 which caused huge financial losses, especially to the employees.
Currently, the Mumbai locals have resumed permitting various categories of employees and women to travel locally. However, it is not open to the regular public yet. As a result, the Railways are facing huge losses while providing services on suburban routes.
From April to November every year, Central Railway earns about ₹502 crores from the suburban services. This year, it has earned only ₹22 crores, bearing a loss of ₹480 crores. Moreover, even though the Central Railway's CSMT to Karjat, Khopoli, Harbor and Trans Harbor have resumed more than 90 per cent local trains, the number of passengers is only 6 lakhs.
As of now, 2,781 local trains run daily on the Central and Western Railways. This includes 1,580 rounds on Central Railway (more than 1700 rounds before the lockdown) and 1,201 rounds on the Western Railway (more than 1,367 rounds before lockdown).
Meanwhile, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials earlier on Thursday, December 3, informed that they will be closely monitoring COVID-19 cases and accordingly, a decision on resuming the suburban services for all commuters will be taken by mid-December. Moreover, BMC additional commissioner Suresh Kakani asserted that a meeting has been scheduled for next week in order to review the situation in the city and make a decision on resuming the locals for the general public.
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